Cathexis is the focus on a specific idea or object to the exclusion of others — an especially strong form of attachment. The Cathexis paintings echo a letting-go process in order to embrace newness. Cregger begins each piece with shapes and curves using a combination of charcoal, sepia pencil, china marker, and graphite. He then selects deep and bright hues of paint, coloring in the nebulous shapes with thick layers, blending some tones into adjacent ones using brush and knife and thinners. This underpainting takes on the quality of a Gees Bend quilt, (i.e. organic shapes in bold colors without a clear pattern). Here is where Cregger sees early childhood images of his Appalachian great-grandmother and her living room of colorful quilt scraps in paper bags. He continues to add paint, cutting into the thick layers with the wooden end of the brush or another tool in an automatic and personal scribbling. The knife comes into play: paint is pulled back, revealing hints of the original drawing.The textural quality is key to tying these many layers together, and it is this “writing” on the canvas that is a hallmark of his work, whether the pieces lean toward minimalism and formalism or contemporary abstract expressionism.