My childhood house always smelled like paint. My dad was always painting cars for extra cash in the garage. The presence of a car was a constant. But, from moment to moment my experience around the car changed. The car transformed from a mode of transportation to a painted art object. From the backyard sound system to the cheers around the track. My varied approach to materials and subject matter reflect the emergent meanings of these experiences for myself and working-class folks. My crowd paintings invoke feelings of intimate togetherness. When chrome rims appear, it signifies my desire to show off and to come up. When my surfaces are reflective like the paint on a car I am asking my viewer to see themselves in these works. My work draws attention to the everyday expressions of identity and visibility made by the working class. I argue with my work that those expressions of identity are cultural texts that reveal aspiration and how aspiration is modeled. I employ the same creative transmutation used by the body shop technician, the handyman, and the salesperson to change materials into objects of worth. Subcultures reveal intimacies hiding in plain sight. My crowd paintings invoke feelings of intimate togetherness. When chrome rims appear it signifies my desire to show off and to come up. When my surfaces are reflective like the paint on a car I am asking my viewer to see themselves in these works.  My work draws attention to the everyday expressions of identity and visibility made (used) by the working class. I argue with my work that those expressions are cultural texts that reveal aspiration and how aspiration is modeled. I employ the same creative transmutation used by the body shop technician, the handyman, and the salesperson to change materials into objects of affection (contemplation). I employ car culture as the vehicle for conversation. The subcultures around automobiles reveal intimacies hiding in plain sight. For instance, the checkered flag is a cross-cultural marker for completion rivaled only by the check mark. In my checkered flag paintings I define completion as an imperfect concept. The canvases are cut and incomplete, the paint leaks and bleeds from one side to another. This disruption to the symbol poses the question; How does the promise of completion sew hope and justice while also being politicized and used to fabricate truth?