Both of the portraits in this series were made in the same corner of a space, and the light was one of the unknowable variables that became part of the work. Reducing the picture down to its barest elements—a figure from the waist up, and an ambiguous space around it them—helped me explore the elements of light, color, color intensity, and the subtlest delineations of skin and cloth, gesture and gaze. The environment that remains might be defined by my love of even light, such as is seen in Dutch Baroque paintings. The quality of light and color in these portraits is very much part of my subject matter, and it helps add to the feeling of interiority that I am interested in exploring.

Two things that compel me to make portraits are the search for connection, and an excuse to look at the ways in which we present ourselves. Both of these portraits are of friends. With friends, or people that I see on a daily basis, I begin to notice gestures and movements that convey a way of holding ourselves up to being seen. Being comfortable in one's own skin has always fascinated me. What interests me is when someone is caught in an unselfconscious moment. It's a hard thing to see in everyday life, because it happens so rarely that we get to see someone's guard let down. It probably accounts for why I love seeing people read, or sleep, or do the dishes—the moments in which we immerse ourselves in something and slip out of self-consciousness.