Decororator
Decororator
Bethel College Regier Gallery
Newton, Kansas
September 2025
My paintings imply a human presence through depictions of accumulated collections. These objects, whether packed away or out on display, are united by systems of value shaped by mystery, sentimentality, and a matrilineal connection.
The images are deeply tied to interiors: domestic, contents of drawers or boxes, closed books, inner thoughts and personal memories. We decorate our homes for ourselves and visitors, we share our stories and heirlooms with family. It is a form of kin-keeping. It is also a material weight and obligation to fill the space and hold this role. Decor, decorator, horror vacui = Decororator.
Each painting focuses on the oscillation between personal resonance and public view, reality and invention, fixed meaning and open interpretation. I’m interested in the assignment of non-monetary significance onto objects as an inherently idiosyncratic act. In this way, the paintings are portraits as I meditate on the details (both mundane and magical) of the accumulated stuff of friends and family. Simultaneously, the collections point towards the anxiety of consumption and the endgame of anonymous personal effects. Looking through the lens of inheritance, accumulations of sentimental objects can link to ancestors, while also becoming a burden of junk. A well loved thing, so deeply felt by one, shapeshifts in meaning when passed to a new owner and generation.