Senseless killings of soldiers and citizens in Iraq, profound uncertainties of a presidential election, and the distress of an unraveling financial system permeate Coded. Five Current Shades, a series of relief paintings created between March 2007 and October 2008. This is a time when anxiety, fear, and despair engaged head-on with beauty, hope and self-determination. These themes reflect the continuing struggle between the desire to control life's journey and the inevitability of life's fundamental impermanence.