Playing Outside

24 x 30. Oil paint and fleece on canvas. 2024.

Abstract

Playing Outside explores themes of connection, memory, and societal shifts in the age of technology. This work explores the yearning to return to a childhood where connection to the natural world and those in it was easily accessible, either through reality or imagination. This painting refers to the animal nature within humans, as we are herd animals that crave connection with those around us as we grow and change. Using collaged references, I am reflecting on disjointed memories from when I was young. I piece together my composition from photos and videos taken by myself or my parents. Our oldest memories exist in a limbo between reality and dream, and we often question whether or not the things we have experienced really happened. They can fade and alter over our time spent with them, but our memories remain a place of comfort that can be romanticized and revisited as necessary.