Tomato Still Life With New Rococo Frame, acrylic and silkscreen ink on panel, 10 x 10 inches, 2025.

Tomato Still Life with New Rococo Frame explores colonial history, Indigenous knowledge and rising costs. In the 1700s, wealthy Europeans believed tomatoes were toxic, unaware their acidity leached lead from pewter plates. However, Mesoamerican Natives ate them as early as 700 CE. The Rococo frame, where gold is replaced by tomatoes, references the era when the artist’s French ancestors came to North America. The subject comes from a grocery store flyer.

Tomato Still Life with New Rococo Frame borrows the frame from an earlier work, All That Glitters is Tomatoes.