Laguna College of Art + Design

My current body of work is a personal narrative about my experiences with chronic illness, specifically the human Parvo B19 virus. I paint figurative and still life paintings that address themes, of private pain vs. public persona, fight and submission, gravity, loss of identity, time, and sleep. I work in oil on panel or canvas.

My paintings are notable for their use of chiaroscuro, inspired at first by master artists Georges de la Tour and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Recently though, my interests have turned to the dramatic cinematic lighting and other compositional elements used in film noir. Dark shadows, tenebrous space, cropping, and use of diagonals all lend an air of mystery and improbability to my work. It is my intent that the viewer be able to view the paintings without an overt understanding of my personal narrative, but rather can bring their own stories to the paintings.