Like a puzzle or a machine, my vibrant impasto oil paintings have tiny parts that are integral to the whole. My work is bold, disruptive, and methodical. Emotionally, I am inspired by societal change, philosophy and collective experience, but thematically my work mimics the colors and rhythms of nature. I primarily use palette knives and a thick mosaic-like tiling technique. I thicken my paint with mediums like cold pressed wax and Liquin impasto. The textures I create remind me of the ocean, and of flower petals and fish scales and clam shells. This imagery and repetitious practices like sewing, quilting and beading have always soothed me and grounded me in a sense of order. Yet, I’m as moved by consistency as I am by disorder and change.

Growing up in New York City and having access to a diverse range of art has shaped me profoundly. Throughout my adolescence, art was a tool for managing OCD, panic disorder, and later major depression, generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. My appreciation for graffiti, murals, and street fashion from an early age helped me cope with the violence, sickness, and poverty surrounding me in the city and at home. I was expeditiously exposed to society’s underbelly and became interested in how societies are structured and why. I focused my Political Science degree at American University on Political Theory and understanding how systems of oppression have integrated themselves within American institutions. I took studio painting courses as electives and interned in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and for Habitat for Humanity’s Government Relations team. The more I learned about America’s political systems, the further I wanted to be from them. I dream of new political systems with new philosophies behind them. From Edmund Burke’s inquiries on aesthetics to Karl Marx’s progressive view of history, I am captivated by philosophy around the nature of change.

When I graduated in 2020 into a global pandemic, George Floyd was murdered and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, so I joined them. I protested and painted my way through the most transformative, uncertain moments of my life, and realized my identity as an artist is intrinsically intertwined with my identity as an advocate. I believe artistic movements often parallel philosophical movements because art is a vehicle for expanding perspective in the collective consciousness. I incorporate raw, expressive brush strokes in my paintings to honor the power and vulnerability of disruption. I believe artists like John Coltrane, Alexander McQueen and Walt Whitman incorporate the same patterns of movement and change in their work that I incorporate in mine. There is a power and purpose art has within society, outside of its impact on the individual.

I’ve spent the past five years teaching art in underinvested communities from the Brooklyn projects to the San Diego border. In many of these environments, art is seen as a privilege, not a requirement, despite the research that supports art as a vital component of social and emotional growth. The most vulnerable children and adults alike are left to their own devices to process the disparity they are experiencing. I feel that teaching art is the most meaningful work I can do, by providing tools of expression to those who need it the most. In an era plagued with corruption, injustice and disconnection, creating art for its own sake is an act of rebellion. In the same way that I protect the integrity of the colors I mix, inspiring new generations of artists and advocates to continue their work upholds the revolutionary tradition of art making. Through furthering my own education, I hope to synthesize my philosophical interests with my passion for teaching, and develop an even deeper relationship with my practice through mentorship and community.