This painting was created as part of a series inspired by Taylor Swift’s recent song, Babylon, in tandem with a road trip to my hometown in rural Pennsylvania. As a level 100 Swiftie and a painter, I knew I had to bring the lyrics to life. All throughout the drive, through rural Pennsylvania towns, I snapped photos through my car window. Photos of two lane roads, farmland, fences, trees — simple scenery that was familiar, nostalgic, and also bittersweet to see. Along the way, I stopped at an antique store and picked up vintage yardsticks, the perfect unique frame for these images — measuring the distance between reality and memory.
These paintings are about where I’m from, but they’re for anyone who has left a small town, anyone who knows the feeling of familiar backroads and fences.
The casino doesn't like when you run the tables
And though the box is wrapped up nice, it's just a cage to you
Those electric fences buzz
The stallion flees the stable
And that small town's even smaller now in your rear view
You ran with all the wild things
A liberated libertine who then longed for home
'Cause it's where you're from
Aunt Virginia with her church dress on
No elbows on the table
And the neighbor's lawn always looked better
Your hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall
And you hate this song
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone
Then that melody is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
'Til it was gone
This painting was created as part of a series inspired by Taylor Swift’s recent song, Babylon, in tandem with a road trip to my hometown in rural Pennsylvania. As a level 100 Swiftie and a painter, I knew I had to bring the lyrics to life. All throughout the drive, through rural Pennsylvania towns, I snapped photos through my car window. Photos of two lane roads, farmland, fences, trees — simple scenery that was familiar, nostalgic, and also bittersweet to see. Along the way, I stopped at an antique store and picked up vintage yardsticks, the perfect unique frame for these images — measuring the distance between reality and memory.
These paintings are about where I’m from, but they’re for anyone who has left a small town, anyone who knows the feeling of familiar backroads and fences.
The casino doesn't like when you run the tables
And though the box is wrapped up nice, it's just a cage to you
Those electric fences buzz
The stallion flees the stable
And that small town's even smaller now in your rear view
You ran with all the wild things
A liberated libertine who then longed for home
'Cause it's where you're from
Aunt Virginia with her church dress on
No elbows on the table
And the neighbor's lawn always looked better
Your hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall
And you hate this song
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone
Then that melody is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
'Til it was gone
