Artist’s Statement

Beefcake, served with style!

My paintings center the nude male figure exploring its own pleasure, solitarily or in groups. Some present the figure in relief against abstract backgrounds evoking the deep introspection and absorption that pleasure can generate. Others present the figure in the midst of surrealist dreamscapes demonstrating pleasure’s power to transcend and transform the mundane into the extraordinary.

Floral imagery often looms large and accompanies the figures, echoing a paradoxical tension, that I emphasize in showing sensual male figures, of both strength in delicacy and delicacy in strength.

While these explorations come in a range of sizes, I consistently turn to oils for both their physical properties and their cultural weight. The translucency, luster, and deep, saturated tones express the sensuous nuances of both figure and flower beautifully. At the same time, their cultural resonance of power, tradition, and patriarchy are playfully subverted by my chosen subject matter and style of presentation.