A common theme I feel is both relevant and prevalent throughout my works is the idea of perception and agency. I enjoy looking at the darker aspects of life and shining a light on them in my own unique way. I like playing with the viewer and controlling what they think of the piece they’re interacting with, and that brand of mischief blends well with pieces I make that deal with abandonment or other themes. The process of creating art is a very difficult and personal journey, for reasons mostly unknown but partially because I’m not used to being a very expressive person, despite my love for art and music. Making artwork is often mentally draining, and a lot of times I leave work unfinished because the exhaustion is too much. However, if I take my time and really work through that plateau, the work turns out nicely.

 

Most of my art is done in charcoal, but sometimes I branch out and use graphite and oil pastels. I like using charcoal because the darks are more dramatic both to see and to use in the process of creating a piece, and I’m drawn to those darker values. Using black and white is simpler to me, but I enjoy colored pieces the most for their variation. There’s something very aesthetically pleasing to me about the way charcoal lingers on paper, and the bold lines you can make with a single stroke. The content of my work is mostly realism, but eventually (ideally sooner rather than later) I’d like to adventure in mixing realism with surrealism, and using both to blend together or create contrast as needed. 

 

I don’t have a plethora of conscious influences on my work, but I can name a few: Steven Universe and Pokemon. Both were influential for me growing up, and I spent many hours of classes in school drawing characters for both shows instead of studying or doing homework. A lot of the more fantastic elements of my work come from dreams I have, or my interest in things like mythology. I also pull a lot of subconscious inspiration and influence from my childhood, and I use the feelings I had back then as fuel for my work. In future works, I’d love to study Baroque works and draw inspiration from them because I love the dramatic colors and techniques developed during that period of time, like tenebrism.

 

I’d like my art to be understandable by most people, but I think I would want my art to be special for brown queer folks, mostly because I am one and also because I feel like the art world, although it’s much better now in terms of diversity, is mostly populated by people whose experiences and stories have been told countless times throughout history. I want to change that in any way I can, even if I’m just one person at one point in time. I don’t desire to be some sort of revolutionary artist, but I believe my goal (both as a creative person and as an artist) is to help others and show how my experiences as an individual- growing up as a kid unsure of themself and how the world would label them, learning that the world does not favor me, living now as a young adult who knows what they want to do but unsure of how to get there- shape the art I make and the battle between realism and the imaginary. The art I make is ultimately a form of escapist therapy and helps me balance between what “should” exist (the real) and what ultimately doesn’t.