Close to Home

Abstract

In late 2007, the crash of the housing market plunged the United States into the nation’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Although foreclosures, unemployment, bankruptcies and bailouts still flood the news, the crisis remains largely invisible as its victims strain to conceal their distress behind closed doors. “Close To Home” explores the causes and the destabilizing effects of corporate greed and the socioeconomic burdens it places on families and individuals. Collaging domestic wallpaper and Wall Street papers, the paintings tell the stories of those struggling to make ends meet in pursuit of the American Dream.