I stopped getting to the bottom of things that I didn't understand. My paintings' structures are based on a flat background, with pale subjects portrayed as lifeless beings. They appear like tombstones to me. Shortcut, for instance, is commemorating a friend who passed away. I once stood on a balcony with him, and he said to me: “From the ground we stand on, to the flowers downstairs, if I jump now, this will by the distance of my life.” At the time, I often thought about the falling process, and the span of a “short” life. Sometimes, I can't tell which is more disturbing: the passing of others or me being alive. Thoughts like this are often not complete—they linger like ghosts, coming and going without a trace, and all I can do is grab onto fragments of them. This is the most appropriate way to approach unsolvable questions in my artistic practice. (Artist statement)