May Queen - This piece is a shot from the movie Midsommar (2019) by Ari Aster. I really enjoyed the movie. I think it was the first really "artsy" film I've ever seen. The idea of "Daylight Horror" deeply intrigued me since I typically find Western horror silly. I saw it with my friend in the theater. We were maybe 16, and we bought tickets to The Lion King and snuck into the theater playing Midsommar. I fell in love with this shot, equally due to the intense floral imagery and Florence Pugh's (Dani's) impassioned frown. [2020]

December 32, 2020 - Part 1 of paintings I made during lockdown while losing my mind: When I started this piece, I didn't really know what I wanted, I just knew I wanted to make something weird. "Warped" TikTok filters were a trend at the time, and I wanted to use the images I made with them in a painting. I decided to add other images of objects that meant something to me, and it evolved into a surrealist self-portrait. I chose to convey losing the sense of time and control over life. The title alludes to a world where 2020 never ended. [2020]

Internal Maintenance - Part 2 of paintings I made during lockdown while losing my mind: I find it hard to connect my emotions to each other. Once my emotions pass, I can't seem to understand why I felt them. I can confidently say I started this painting in a very stressed state. I had a big canvas and the image sort of manifested itself. This piece and Animal Business share a theme of depersonalization and estrangement between your emotions. This one focuses more on not truly experiencing my emotions but watching them as an outsider. This piece received an Honorable Mention award in the Scholastic Art Contest. [2020]

I am "The BOSS" All proceeds go to me - This is based on a picture of Celeste the Cat. It was my very first cat painting! It was the first time I explored painting without the intent to achieve realism. Instead, I focused on conveying the personality of the cat. [2022]

Knit Your Cat a Hat - The story is: I saw a picture of a cat with a knitted hat one day. The rest is history. This is based on Fefe the Cat and his knitted hat. I love painting cats just staring at you. [2023]

AGH!!! - This cat is special. It's my first cat painting that isn't based on a picture—just an imaginary screaming cat, made solely for pleasure and silly intentions. Look at him! He's screaming! Don't you want to scream too? [2023]

Animal Business - Part 3 of paintings I made during lockdown while losing my mind. I wanted to convey the feeling of experiencing such primal animalistic emotions that I longer feel like a human, but an amalgamation of wild animals. I imagined the creature as an average businessman sitting through meeting after meeting. He's experiencing millions of thoughts per second but feels as if everyone else is fine. His anxiety grows and grows the more he keeps to himself. which leads him to believe perhaps his neurology is defective and less than human. If everyone else is fine, what's wrong with him? [2021]

Synas #1 - This is one of my first abstract paintings. I experience synesthesia, specifically chromesthesia, the sensory association of sound and color. For the first half of the painting, I listened to songs by Dodie Clark (older songs from 2016-2019, such as You and Monster). For the second half, I started listening to Wilbur Soot's album Your City Gave Me Asthma. The colors I feel when listening to the two artists are very different, you're welcome to guess which ones belong to who. I really enjoy this painting process. It's a very relaxing and intuitive experience and I'd like to start a series of paintings made with this method. [2021]

Soulmates - This piece is based on Origin of Love from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell, which is based on Plato's myth of love. You may notice by now I really enjoy morphing multiple faces together. I created this piece around themes of sexuality, gender expression, polyamory, and a claustrophobic sentiment toward relationships. [2020]

Gold - This is the first "real" painting I really dedicated my time to. I was a big fan of Deaf West Theater's revival of Spring Awakening the musical when I made this. This is a painting of Lauren Luiz who played Melitta in the show. I consider it my first painting and I'm still very proud of it. I was really drawn to gold-colored paint and used it so much that it kind of looked like her hair is on fire. I have to admit it looks less like Lauren than it does resembles my mom. [2019]