Intrigued by the particulars of the American dream, my work questions the expectations of the culture in which I grew up. Using a painting vocabulary rooted in modernist, figurative tradition, I explore what it means to be conditioned towards the idealized nuclear family and traditional work-life,and what happens when one deviates. The bright color establishes a dreamlike quality, while I employ images of suburban and rural landscapes, domesticity, unmoored, floating bodies and sleepwalkers to symbolically weigh the promises of happiness and predictability against the more complicated realities.