“To be an actor you have to be a child.”
- Paul Newman

These two paintings capture the childlike exuberance that flows through the Actor’s soul, the wildness of shattering one’s ego and creating a new one from the ground up. The figure stands with its hands up, both in celebration and vulnerability. Yet, while the vivid colors suggest a certain zest, there is a darkness, a cloud that hangs over the work. For, while the Actor is involved deeply with re-creation of self, this recreation is frantic and infinite. An unceasing work of creation. There is no stability of self, no home from which the self travels forth and returns. The Actor is both nothing and everything. All is in flux, all is enchanted, all is haunted.

"Life's but a walking shadow,
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more:
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
-Macbeth

Mixed Media (house paint, watercolor, pencil, pen)

The body is a sort of territory. A territory that produces and is being produced constantly. A variety of things move across the borders, and transverse through this territory, food, water molecules, oxygen, electromagnetic waves, carbon dioxide, viruses, bacteria, various chemicals, both human-made and natural, etc. This work shows the disintegration, or deterritorialization, of the body as the figure depicted strolls through the modern world, its borders becoming more and more blurred.

In a world saturated with media and information, the work highlights the fluid borders of self at both the material level, as well the psychological level.

Mixed media (houseplant, watercolors, acrylics, pencil, pen) on wood panel.

“Eat Ur Ego” is a phrase that reappears often in my work. It is founded in the fanatic, almost relgious rituals of the consumption of goods and services in our consumer society. The phrase also touches upon the fetish and commodification of self this consumption feeds, as we all work to monetize and brand every component of our lives. The phrase “Eat Ur Ego,” accompanied with the depiction of a skull, a classic symbol of the moment mori trope, plays on the popular health slogan, “You are what you eat.”

Mixed media on wood panel

A depiction of the wild, un-deliberative freedom of animals, in this case the Horse. In high school I read a paper by the American philosopher Thomas Nagel, titled “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” The paper details philosophical issues involved with consciousness.

After reading Nagel’s paper I became, and have remain, fascinated at imaging the inner-lives of animals.

Mixed media on wood

This work depicts a Pawn-like figure in a color-field of pink.

In the game of chess, the Pawn is, individually, the weakest piece. Yet, collectively Pawns are the most powerful force on the board. In addition, each individual Pawn has the revolutionary potential to transform into any other piece on the board, including the Queen, the most power piece on the board.

As such, the Pawn is the most intriguing piece for it contains everything, from absolute weakness, to omnipotent power, within itself. Thus, it need no heroes.

Mixed media on wood

A simple, yet captivating, work. An anthropomorphized owl-figure rounds its lips and blasts an astounding WHOOOOOO into an impenetrable darkness.

House paint with nail scratchings.

A quiet piece. A figure reclines upon a pillowed surface reading. What could be more perfect?

The figure is reminiscent of the classic odalisque depicted in many 19th-century paintings.

Embellished print; watercolor and pen on artist paper.

A work rooted in the dada and surrealist traditions that bubbles and boils over with absurd nonsense. Yet, somehow hints at a profound political statement, of what that statement is, your guess is as good anyone’s (wink).

Pencil and pen on sketch paper.

The ship of fools is an allegory in the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato, about a ship with a dysfunctional crew. The allegory represents the problems of governance prevailing in a political system not based on expert knowledge. However, this allegory can be extended to highlight the consequences of the infinite flows of misinformation and half-truths that operate as political and cultural discourse in the contemporary world.

Mixed media on wood panel

Twenty-four sketches of an anthropomorphized owl-figure rounding its lips and hooting out an astounding WHOOOOOO into an impenetrable darkness.

House paint with nail scratchings

This work is both humorous and sad. The American high school is an odd, terrifying, yet exciting arena of transformation and movement, all of it signified in the object of the High School Year Book. This work explores the tensions and confusions, the loves and hates, the set-backs and the potentials of that unique American institution.

Watercolor, acrylic, pencil and pen on photocopied paper.

A colorful, swirling piece that contains pure chaos and joy. A disintegrating figure runs through the world while just above it soars a majestic bird.

Mixed media (spray paint, acrylic, pencil, pen) on wood panel

The Land, the Sea, and the Sky sit at a table, empty, yet full of universal potential.

Mixed media (house paint, watercolor, pencil, pen) on wood panel.