I was raised by a television in suburban America -- tuned in to all the big, bold, shiny things being sold in big, bold, shiny commercials. One of my first memories is the colors of the cereal aisle flashing by as I rode in my mom’s grocery cart. I still see things this way. I’m more likely to notice an ad on the side of the highway than the forest behind it.
 
What has become visual white noise to most people is what I’m interested in. This is what America really looks like: strip malls full of franchises, endless arrays of products and packaging … anything to isolate us from the unfamiliar. I think that these mundane things that have so completely saturated our lives have inherent moments of value. Painting them shows us something about who we are, what our values are, and what’s surprisingly acceptable and eerily beautiful.

Jason Chase