The Great Outdoors was the first painting in the body of work called the Me Series. These paintings were meant to be more psychologically engaging and personal than any of my previous works. Often drawing on previous themes of mine they tend to take a more pragmatic and knowing point of view. Rather than the exalted, inspirational attitude of the past, these paintings aspire to a certain smartness and skepticism that is refreshing.

The Great Outdoors takes the idea of sublime nature and questions it asking, "What is it? Where is it? Does is really exist, or is it just something for automobile commercials?" As someone who grew up with a reverence for the wilderness this was a radical thought.

The extreme horizontal composition, juxtaposing abstract and realist sections, is meant to convey the tremendous machinations of the mind behind any actual take on the outside world.