STATEMENT:  The Beanie Babies, also known as Caravaggio's Toys, pays homage to the idea of collecting as a social phenomena. Photographing these objects as if each had the status of rare relic, I approach them with the seriousness that Baroque or Renaissance painters would have given to the subjects of their portraits. With the employment of chiaroscuro lighting and the placement of each toy in the camera's frame, I give larger than life importance to these stuffed, low brow figures. The series extols the quality of light in the photographic image while maintaining a lively subtext of humor.