How do you pick your subjects? "Usually they're the kinds of guys I hang out with a lot, because I identify with them in a way. Basically, they're the people I meet, and we have similar interests."

What kinds of guys are they? Are they artists and musicians? "Yeah, they're both. Lots of guys that do the things that guys do, like ride bikes and get in fights and drink a lot and are stereotypical guys."

Your artist's statement mentions that you're influenced by superhero action figures and how they're posed. Are you making these guys heroic? "Kind of. I don't think I'm putting them up on a pedestal. Well, I guess I sort of am, but I feel like it's a celebration of them as well as being a sort of lament about how bad that typology is."

But by posing them in their own environments, with their stuff, you show how specificity overturns the stereotype. "That's what I'm looking to do. That's what I look for. Usually when I see someone I have an idea in mind. I get to know them a bit, have a conversation with them, check out where they work, where they live, basically where they spend a lot of time. Because that selection says a lot about them, I think."

What other kind of work do you do? "For my thesis show I did an installation that was a boy's bedroom, with a Bo Duke hooked rug. So I've worked in installation, and I do a lot of silk screening, and I'm working on a performance piece. I do whatever I can."