CAT & MOUSE
Nucleus Portland, 2026
I had a solo show with Nucleus Portland gallery in January-February 2026. I used a few different media for these pictures, some ink & gouache on paper and some oil on canvas.
This was my “artist statement” for the show:
A few different images have been in my head for a while: moonlight on tree branches, windows lit up in dark houses, and cats’ glowing eyes. So I’ve been making a lot of pictures with these things in them. But when I started adding a human figure to the pictures, I wondered what kind of person would be in these remote and ominous settings.
In stories, there’s sometimes a character whose main role is to accompany the hero through the events of the narrative, often leading them or nudging them along. For example, Mephistopheles in Faust or Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio are this kind of character. On the surface the hero must think of them as a helpful guide, but really they get them deeper into trouble.
I thought, before they start guiding a naive character along a dangerous path, they must have to travel to get to the beginning of the story. In this group of paintings I was imagining that time between stories where a character like Mephistopheles would be wandering around looking for someone new to lead on a journey.
