Authors of fiction will sometimes talk about the ways their characters make choices they didn’t exactly intend. It’s almost as if there is a consciousness that emerges in the creation of a story that is its own thing. The author, or artist, isn’t completely in control, our stories, our characters, our paintings have a mind of their own. While this is a show about some guy, there is no guy present. This dude materializes through arrangements of objects. He is part me, part people I’ve met, part internet caricature, and part friends of mine (incidentally, many of my closest women friends greet each other with the words “hey dude” or “hey man”, a cultural artifact less about gender than about us making fun of ourselves and the culture we find ourselves in). This dude is creating these still lifes as a way of coping with the events of everyday life. He goes to work, comes home, tries out new hobbies, makes love, and all the while, turns these experiences into his art. (excerpt) Amber Boardman, 2023