 His painting style mixes pop-art motifs with surrealist tendencies, creating a contained tension between order and chaos, rationalism and irrationalism.His upbringing in Chicago and its vicinity surely influenced him, from the accessibility to masterpieces at the Art Institute of Chicago to the grand architecture of Louis Sullivan, but also advertisements from the 1940s and 1950s that oozed with undertones of sexuality.His paintings draw from American popular imagery, but complicate them, often using the full spectrum of vibrant colors and combining trompe l'oeil effects to play with the viewer's sense of balance.