In recent years, I have reenvisioned my stitched-together paintings less as pure deconstructions and more as containers, as metaphoric safe houses for other objects. In Rome, I plan to make a series of collapsible paintings, large constructions that can fold into themselves and out again. Much like a traveling merchant, I will construct a portable show that can switch from the pragmatic into an expanded magnificence of constructions. These works will draw from the history and aesthetics of reliquaries, and other ornate housing structures. In addition to reliquaries, I hope to study the display of more pedestrian valuables, such as the hoarded objects of contemporary Italian street vendors displayed in portable shops in the market. I want my paintings to carry the feeling of the portable and collapsable, of something valuable that can be secreted away at a moment’s notice. I want to study how sacred objects are displayed and protected in Rome in churches, crypts, and markets.