For this painting I borrowed the central figure from Paul Gauguin’s painting “Para Api”, “Is there anything new?”. Gauguin’s painting embodies disillusionment. He had recently traveled to Tahiti but hadn’t found his mythical paradise there. My paradise in this painting is my home but with two small children needing constant attention amid a global pandemic I was longing for something else in my own right.

I started this painting in June, 2020. Since then we have disassembled parts of our kitchen and uncovered layers of wallpaper and flooring. I used some of those patters inside the cupboards and on the floor. Ghosts of what came before.