My paintings and paper assemblages are both subtle inquiries into the nature of scientific visual language, and quirky, funny diagrams, imbued with the deceptive promise of imparting factual information. The pared-down imagery evokes the objective authority of scientific illustration. Yet each painting delivers only enough information to vaguely illustrate concepts of instinct, unseen mental and emotional processes, and overt and veiled communication between people. The imagery negotiates a space between the rational and irrational, between the humorous and the serious, and between science and emotion. The surfaces themselves suggest the perfection of a printed diagram but slowly reveal the imperfections of their hand-cut and hand-painted construction. The unusual antiseptic color, unclear interaction between figures, lines, arrows, and planes, and the lack of a key or labels all confuse any possibility of conclusive narrative. These elements situate the work in the realm of scientific visual display while their inconsistencies leave the work open to varied interpretation.