I'm deeply sensitive to art as an instrument of emancipation and social action for the individual. The only truth of art, the only requirement of art is: "listening." Because art is for everyone, not just those with means or education or access, everyone.
In a state I can only describe as a "creative catharsis" I can connect to or "perceive" the energy of my surrounding environment and the results are images with stories and characters that emerge on the canvas in sharp detail. I do not plan what I am going to draw in advance. I just start to paint, enter a near trance state, and my hand moves across the canvas at a frenzied pace. Suddenly, beautiful figures and faces begin to emerge.
The first time visited Los Angeles, distinctly "American" images began showing up in my work for the first time: a chief in full headdress, Native American faces, ancient Spanish Carrara, and other imagery symbolic of American history, most of which was completely foreign and new to me. Each work is dense with intimate and intriguing aspects of the human experience, both past and present, which immerse the viewer in a visually off-kilter but emotionally vivid experience. They also stimulate the viewer's curiosity, inviting them to further explore their understanding of the human experience. At first glance my drawings may look like a face, or a boat on the ocean, or a tree or a surreal scene, but closer inspection reveals a host of smaller faces, images, and objects that together create the primary image. (It is important to zoom in on the images to see all the small details)
Perception Art, is the right name for what I do. In each of these situations, I wait for the inner calling, the sudden need to take out the fountain pen and I start drawing very fast and the lines are unleashed from the pen like a horse that refuses to be tamed. Then at a certain point my hand slows down to a stop, which means the work is finished. I've created art on crowded metro cars and buses during rush hour, the crypts of fifteenth-century churches, parks. I especially love to create my paintings live in front of the public.
Since I became aware of this technique and method, I have been on a singular creative journey; my work and its evolution, more and more, is about the exploration of that space between the known and unknown.
My most recent projects are:
--Exhibitions at the 2019 Venice Biennale (The State of Art and Humanizing the Icon)
-- Selected Artist for 2021 Perception Project, a non-profit devoted to empowering survivors of trauma through emotive artistic collaboration. The artist creates a masterpiece showcasing the "muse's" strength and inner beauty.
--Resident Artist on the chat show Humanizing the Icon creating live drawings incorporating the energy of the conversation in art during the hour-long talk (March 2020- ongoing)
--Guest Artist Instructor for the non-profit Camp Lightbulb which creates powerful summer camp experiences for LGBTQ+ youth (October 2020)
