'Papa Bear', 2008. Oil on Canvas, 24 in. x 36 in.

On how you portray the characters in your paintings you say, “My photographic transcriptions obscure the faces of my subjects. I enjoy the play between giving my reluctant subjects a stage to perform upon and maintaining their anonymity.” Could this be translated as a power play as well; allowing them to appear as players on your canvas, but without the satisfaction of their “fifteen minutes of fame”? Or is to show the viewer that they too could be a “reluctant subject”, captured by your camera unbeknownst to them, at some Town Point Park festival?

Part of me wants someone to come up to me someday and say, “Hey, that’s me in that painting!” That way, perhaps I can find out what they were doing or thinking at the moment that the photo was taken. But that would also dispel the mystery that I have concocted in my own head. I hope everyone that wants a “fifteen minutes of fame” gets it, but I don’t feel any responsibility as an artist to provide that for the public. I feel disconnected from my subjects almost as though they’re characters on a television show. I find strangers fascinating, but ultimately, I just don’t want to get too involved.

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