The conceptual motivation for the production of this series of paintings has been to try to reach the fullness of an idea that offers viewers the means to access the contents of their imagination and its significance. In creating a series of paintings that addresses and reviews a perspective revolving around a single concept, my intention is to establish the foundation upon which viewers are invited to interpret the work as a whole. As a consequence, viewers are invited to examine the formal considerations of the work in relation to the emblematic significance of its content. As opposed to antiquities, which usually carry a strict provenance, the objects depicted in the Portrait Series were purchased second hand, without any tangible reference to the previous owner. They are specific utilitarian objects – 35mm cameras, light bulbs, shoes, pay phones, trophies, furniture, and clothing – that have experienced undeterminable yet indisputable human contact. Commonplace and seemingly bereft of any historical significance, these artifacts are none the less theoretically connected with the untold, recondite stories of the people with whom they have interacted. Altering the context with which these objects are ordinarily associated, that of benign servitude, and depicting them in a traditional medium, my intent is to elevate them to a status that challenges us to define its significance to us or to other autonomous individuals. My intent is to provide viewers with the means to make a distinction between the private and public meaning of the specific objects depicted. (Acknowledging the viewers identities and their own perceptions of the world, my goal is to elicit their personal recollections of similar past experiences in contrast to those objects pictured in the series) The central aim of the Portrait Series is not to propagate a false perception of the elusive but autonomous histories of the viewers. Rather, its aim is to present a single idea that provides the context for a conceptual installation. This intention is confirmed by the fact that each portrait represents a coherent conceptual format that invites viewers to examine the substance of its form and content
