My interest in the transformation of the banal stems from the observation that most of life is devoted to the drearily predictable. Repetitive activities of daily living, work and exercise routines can make for a stultifying existence without one thing: the ability to experience moments of transcendence in the drudgery. I consider this a vital life skill.

It's a skill I try to reproduce in my painting. For example, in my current work, I take a hackneyed image--the daisy--and reanimate it through a multi-part process involving painting, off-press printing and drawing. My goal is to transform the daisy from its cliched turns in advertising, interior design and fashion (to name a few) into a fresh metaphor for contemporary human experience.

The basis of the compositions in many of the pictures is a repeating daisy pattern, relief-printed from a rubber bath mat. (Nothing makes me happier than turning a $9 bathroom accessory into art.) I use pattern in my work for several reasons. One, because it is ubiquitous. Pattern forms the foundation for human learning and behavior. On a mundane level--from wallpaper to bed sheets, clothing to body tattoos--we express and comfort ourselves through pattern. There is reassurance in the repetitiveness of pattern, but also the danger of sameness, boredom, banality. That's why my images insist on violating pattern. This commitment to unpredictablity and surprise underscores my central theme. I use pattern--and especially variations on pattern--to explore the ordinary and its possibilities for transcendence.