SMALL REWARDS
Necessary Arts Gallery
Guelph, Ontario, March 10 - 24, 2026Small Rewards brings together fifteen ten-inch star-shaped oil paintings arranged to resemble a collection of badges, tokens, or small emblems. Installed together, the works read as fragments of memory: objects, images, and symbols drawn from personal history, pop culture, and visual references that evoke nostalgia while also carrying something slightly uncanny. The star shape functions both as a container and as a disruption. Stars are familiar symbols associated with childhood reward systems, decoration, and affirmation, often appearing as gold stickers given as recognition. The star motif moves beyond a compositional frame to reference the act of artistic production itself. The completion of a painting serves as a literal reward, or at least a moment of validation in a solitary practice. Collectively, the installation functions as a self-inflicted report card where each star represents a unit of labour, a checked box, or a demand for recognition.
My work often explores the shifting relationship between figure, pattern, and decorative surfaces within painting. Drawing from feminist visual culture and domestic material histories, I frequently incorporate textile motifs and vintage upholstery patterns as active compositional elements rather than passive backgrounds. In these works, pattern exerts pressure on the figure, at times overwhelming or absorbing it entirely. I am interested in how domestic visual environments like textiles, wallpaper, furniture and other decorative objects shape emotional experience and become intertwined with identity and memory.
The star motif references the familiar validation of receiving a gold star while complicating the idea of recognition through gestures that feel self-awarded. In Small Rewards, the paintings gather like a wall of small gestures of affirmation that feel familiar yet strange, where sentimental symbols and decorative surfaces blur the line between comfort and unease.