I am a narrative and figurative painter immersed in stories I invent based on real life. They are basically the same inventions I had since childhood. In my latest series, the women, girls and animals are floating, falling, running or escaping. Their feet on not on the ground. They are in some strange space. Everything that was up is now down. There is wonder, confusion, fear. The possibility of other worlds beyond ours is magnetic - other ways of knowing.

The costume is what is next to the skin, it’s as important as fur is to an animal. I was an editorial fashion photographer in NYC and London for two decades. What I loved best about the job was the potential of narrative, and the costume is as essential as the lighting and composition.. Being a painter is more expressive and gratifying: I create a person, give her lines and direction, choose the lighting, and set the stage with appropriate props.

My animal-protagonists are saviors. At one extreme, they are ferocious, at the other, they’re innately solid and determined. As muses or familiars, they are an essential part of the characters and represent pure goodness.

The women and animals in my artwork are balancing thoughts of foreboding or mystery with a potential for celebration. It is a quest for self, embracing or wrestling for equilibrium between the coherent and incoherent and the fearful and bold.

I’m attracted by the idea of surprise through use of narrative twists, spatial tricks, and unexpected color. My influences include Dorothea Tanning, Paula Rego and the Leipzig School. The figures are on a mission, in dialogue, in collusion, in conflict. The outlook can be amusing, but also strange and risky. The dark side reflects our society today, while the bright side evokes our hope. A visual tension between the two generates energy. The paintings are about the hardest part of the trip; the intersection between potential and conflict.