I am creating still life paintings of childhood objects. When I first started this series, which is called Lost and Found, I was thinking about how in childhood, I used to cherish toys: trading cards, game boys, and press pennies. Those pennies that a person can have an image pressed onto them by a machine found near tourist spots. Many of these pennies that I have collected have memories of places I have visited.  I collected trading cards even if I did not understand how to play the trading card game that they are meant for. It didn’t matter. I just collected them. With the cards, I found the characters interesting because they were cute, fluffy, with animal attributes. My parents gave me my first game-boy for Christmas one year. My game boy was a prized possession. I took it everywhere. I did not drop it.

The screen represents an escape into a new world where I could follow along with the story and collect monsters along the way. Escape from the outside world, from problems I am not ready to face. It might be why I hold onto my childhood, whether it is the toys or shows, so tight. I also used to watch the show Pokémon and Yu-gi-oh a lot. I still do. These toys represent my early visual culture as I look back on my childhood with fondness and nostalgia. Childhood is the shortest period of time during a person’s life and it is also the most impactful. As I got older, I picked up another form of escape in painting. My adult emotions and memories of childhood are projected onto these objects that I paint. In my studio, I work on these paintings in my lap and create them with acrylic paint on wood panel. By reproducing these toys from direct observation and basically in sight size, I can hold my childhood in my hand and the viewer can perhaps get a glimpse of theirs.