I approach the subject of dolls and toys from the vantage point of a still life painter, long involved with the domestic realm and the types of objects that originate there. Like most who have dealt with this subject, I am fascinated by the way in which toys, particularly dolls, exemplify both the animate and inanimate spheres of existence. While this captivating trait accounted for much of my initial interest, I have since moved into a more critical, questioning phase with this subject. What are the particular cultural concerns embedded within these playthings and in what ways is a toy an attempt to imprint those perspectives upon children? Most importantly as a person who operates visually, I am drawn to these objects because I cannot comprehend the decision-making process that has gone into their creation. To me, they are truly enigmatic.

At times, I faithfully paint a doll or a toy house, accurately depicting the fabricated versions of reality they represent. On other occasions, by further altering or re-interpreting the conclusions of the previous rendition, I employ the same degree of license exercised by the toy's creator. For example in “Log Cabin I”, I subtly feminize a classically masculine Lincoln Logs building by substituting pastel hues for the typically earth toned palette of the miniature logs. My image of the Lincoln Log house reads very straightforwardly, but with an undercurrent of something being wrong. By means of the definitive way in which it has been painted, the new version appears believable and capable of provoking a viewer to reconsider the authority residing in the original.

These paintings record and commemorate the overblown sentimentality, unsettling narratives and peculiar characterizations that particular toys exemplify. I wish for these images to elicit a memorable and evocative quality through ineffable means - to provide unexpected complexity and weight to these seemingly innocuous things.