My paintings and works on paper depict trysts and ambiguous scenarios in which human bodies merge with props, puppets and animal totems to create chimeric hybrids. As they tumble under the bedclothes, these creatures engage in behaviors that evoke the silly, the sexual and predatory all at the same time.

The work is primarily engaged with issues of desire, deception and power. My graduate thesis exhibition quoted heavily from 18th century Japanese shunga prints and the mock-classical props and costumes of burlesque theater, two traditions that utilize trickery and disguise in the construction of erotic spectacle. I began incorporating animal imagery into my work to mimic the use of puppetry in burlesque revue, particularly the parodies of classical tales like Leda and the Swan which frequently made their way into Vaudevillian striptease routines.

Animal forms came to function as totems, suggesting gendered traits that could be re-assigned and "worn" by human subjects, with graceful haunches or fearsome antlers appearing unexpectedly in the midst of an intimate scene. The result is a pantomime of dominant and submissive behavior in which gender is fluid and power relationships are constantly up for grabs.