Artist Statement

The only way I made it through 2020 was walking in Golden Gate Park every day. My heart was breaking, the world was shutting down, my income had dried up, yet the earth was waking up from a cold winter into a full bloom of indigo hazy flowers and chartreuse buds. Mesmerized by the first turns of early spring cascading into an explosion of life in a matter of weeks, I’m addicted to representing this seasonal swing creatively. I’ve been dead inside before and in those moments, I feel as though the experience will persist indefinitely. Yet each time, I thaw. Tiny sparks of life pool into full showers of passionate flames that lead me to my canvas over and over again.

I paint my soul and the feelings that are not palatable in, as what bell hooks calls our civilization, a white-supremasist capitalist patriarchy. My transness cannot be controlled, nor can my dedication to my fellow human. Art is essential in healing the traumas of life, when pushing back against the system can get you fired, evicted, or killed. I transform emotion into color of grief and texture of bliss to create bright, modern works. While the viewer might see bold vibrant creations, when I paint, I’m thinking about working in service, transphobia, drag silhouettes, or opening up higher dimensions within myself.

While my paintings feel fresh and agile, a big part of my process is time. Canvases languish in my studio for months at a time, akin to my dissociation when circumstances overwhelm me. The canvas is like a mirror, vulnerability takes courage to accept. Space, itself, is the ingredient in my paintings that lets me convey depth of feeling.