Oil on Shaped Panel
8″ x 16″ x 1.5″

My current on-again, off-again series, “The Secret Life of Puppets” continues to be super fun to make. It is an unexpectedly challenging process to create a composition that makes sense as it wraps around the edges, while bringing the same care and detail as I did to the front. I had to build special easel holders so I could easily turn them as needed without messing up the paint.

A key aspect of these toys for me was that they were one of the earliest links between my imagination and the physical world. I held a piece of some fantastic world in my own little hands.

I use shaped panels because I want the “objecthood” of the paintings to be emphasized. I chose this particular shape because it reminded me of a phone. I figure, what other object is so ubiquitously felt in our hands these days?