artist statement


"East Meets Southwest Meets Contemporary"

I'm grateful that the world is full of inspiration, as I feel like I will never run out of ideas for new painting projects.

The music and poetry of everyday life inspires my work. Some examples of this inspiration are musical melodies, a piece of conversation, the chatter of children, cinematography, fairy tales, literature, eclectic and tasty food, fresh colors and interesting shapes from nature, the stunning Southwest landscape, zoology, and biology. Whatever the source, my artistic antennae tune in to the creative stimuli and consistently transform them into visual images, which I then use to create paintings.

After deciding the theme and color scheme of a painting, I add and subtract various elements from the canvas until the overall direction and feeling of the piece emerges (all while listening to my favorite music, of course!). My approach to the creative process is quite intuitive and spontaneous. I love using bright colors and high contrast in my work, as well as visual contradictions, like organic vs geometric, or simple vs complicated.

As another example of contrast, I consider myself a hybrid of East and West. I am a happy mixture of Tokyo funk-and-groove, and New Mexico green chile-picante-salsa-vibes.

My art is completely contemporary and I love it in that way. The interaction between myself and the painting often feels like the back and forth of a Jazz improvisation. My paintings are visual poetry and optical music - playful, uplifting, and whimsical. Every single painting in my body of work has its own distinctive tune in my mind.