Television and mass media marketing convey objects and images that are influential models for children’s identity. This body of work examines the complex relationship between childhood imagery and adulthood, often involving consumerism, the holidays and escapism. This series proposes that these multifaceted images always mean something, and that this something is entirely socialized and constituted by the myths or routine of modern adult life. These images of fantasy allow children to act out their dreams, to become someone else, or to travel to a different place and time. As adults, we have the ability to exploit the many complexities associated with these images, including our intimate childhood experiences of them.
Sex, power, escapism, knowledge and entertainment are temptations that confront us each day. This series of paintings explores some of these issues. I address the temptations that face us from our collective childhood to the overworked, overstressed, over-stimulated existence of the modern urban dweller.