Kids have something that adults do not and I, for one, am jealous of them. As we grow into adulthood we loose something inherent in every child; a kid can play with a cardboard box and inhabit a world that few adults can see, and when another kid joins the play they enter that world with ease. But we teach that out of them. We conform them to our sense of etiquette, put them in a school system that cannot teach toward creativity, and prescribe them medication mistaking unbridled imagination for ADHD. Traditional galleries do not help either; they have a tendency to fit into an adults perspective and can be a particularly serious environment, void of kids. I try to bring the “cardboard box” into the gallery and break that convention; to bring a sense of play and humor to the white wall setting. To do that I rely on nostalgic subject matter that viewers can connect with; to give the viewer permission to reminisce on the child they once were and just play.

In my current body of work, I enlarge classic American toys and candies. Inspired by the pop art movement, the fiberglass sculptures are built hyper realistically to capture every detail of the object. I want the viewer to be able to recall their own memories of the candy or toy; the way it tasted, where they would eat or play with it, how it sounded when opened or dropped. All juxtaposed by the white wall gallery setting to inject humor and nostalgia into that space. Fundamentally the work is meant to exhibit a playful absurdity while connecting with the viewer and allow for adults to feel like kids.