My current works combine still life with landscape paintings to examine the concept of memory. We attach memories to places and objects and sometimes both. I use antique and vintage toys because they reference memory through feelings of nostalgia. I choose locations that are places where memories are made. Abandonment as a narrative is interesting because it can be intentional or unintentional. We are never quite sure why an object is left behind, lost, or forgotten. I chose abandonment as a narrative because it taps into that natural curiosity.
I regularly scout locations while I drive around, and look for the next few toys to feature in my works. The type of location that I look for tends to have a narrative within it that I can use such as a path leading toward home, a park bench with a view, or a thrift store window. I look for both interior setting as well as landscapes for their variety. What I look for in the toys is their condition and whether they are worn by repeat favoritism or if they were decorative and not played with. The condition of a toy adds to the narrative.
Momentarily, is a painting of a children's ride on a spring in the shape of a seahorse. The ride is alone and abandoned in the mid-afternoon sun on a beach with a view of the bay and rolling hills in the distance. This piece uses a well-known location and landmark for its setting, and a recognizable toy universal to childhood experiences. Although the ride is alone it is not lonely. The seahorse is made of happy saturated colors while the landscape is tranquil with desaturation.
Thrift Store Finds, is a painting of an interior setting, specifically a thrift store shelf. The toys featured are a bucket of wooden blocks, a pull toy in the shape of a horse, and a rocking horse. The wooden pull toy and bucket of blocks are placed inside of a brightly painted box, while the jug and rocking horse hang from hinges on a piece of wood leaning against the wall. The toys are bright punches of color amidst the jumble of everyday objects. This piece examines how we give up what once gave us happy memories..
Sometimes we remember things because of something we owned, something we played with, and somewhere we went. These two pieces look at two different locations associated with memory. In Momentarily we would go there to make a memory, while in Thrift Store Finds, we would go there to find things from our memories.