The Utopia series visually combines found items into collages representing icons of "The Greatest Country on Earth." Items ranging from the brightly colored packaging of highly processed food products to promotional cards for strip clubs and phone sex lines are formed into a map of the United States or an American flag. The interplay of the images of products and advertisements that surround us with the concept of an ideal society makes a comment on the state of the U.S. in the new millenium. The juxtaposition of images of promotional cards for strip clubs with the image of the US flag may offend the patriotic or moral sense of some, but the idea of liberty and freedom for which the flag stands should support tolerance of lifestyle choices. Attempts to limit personal freedoms in the name of antiterrorism and on moral grounds have been on the rise in recent years. Utopia I asks what is the true vision of a "perfect" society, perfect freedom or perfect conformity to the views and standards of the majority or the most vocal minority? The title offers an answer meant to spark debate. Utopia II examines what freedom of choice means in a capitalist society where free expression is manifested in the brand choices we make instead of political or artistic expression. What happens when all of the choices that we are offered are equally bad, do we really have true freedom?

The idea behind 3LAYER Painting is to combine two very low resolution images with written phrases to create one image with three layers. The background is made up of a grid of single color blocks, or pixels, that form a low resolution iconic image. In the foreground, a letter is stenciled or painted on to each block to form phrases that relate to the image. Each letter has its own font color, which taken together form another low resolution iconic image, large block letters, or word associations that relate to both the phrases and the and the background image. The idea borrows from primitive computer graphics and ASCII art, as well as word art, but combines these elements into overlapping images. At first glance, it is hard to know where to focus as the brain seems to be unable to process the entire image at once. Eventually, you may notice that it is possible to read the painting from top left to bottom right. You may later notice that the background colors form an image. You may wonder why the letters are different colors before discerning a pattern among them. The words and images comment on aspects of modern American life including art, religion, commerce, philosophy and the interplay of these elements.