In Kitchen, he presents a largescale painting of a cucina interior, where a meal is being prepared. A connected and loving exchange is preserved in the foreground, where a young girl gives a begging dog a little reassuring scratch under the chin. She is neatly dressed in a white and green button-up frock, yet she has clearly found comfort, her bare feet standing on the cool terracotta floor. The composition is masterful, with the incandescent light suspended over the table allowing the top 1/3 of the scene to recede into mystery. This forces our eye into the action in the middle foreground. The bold color combination of the red floors, the green walls and the yellow table and ceiling create a richly pigmented environment rarely found in the works of classically trained artists. Both scenes are reminiscent of 17th century genre paintings’ simple and fleeting moments, but with the ease of Fenske’s loose strokes. They are familiar scenes that can feel like nostalgic memories or dreams of our own lives, as they are or as we wish they would be.