Laguna College of Art + Design

My recent body of work delves into the peculiar absurdity of my American

experience, using iconic county fair imagery to engage with the excesses, hopes, violence,

and delusions pervasive in American culture. Humor becomes my tool to navigate and

comment on the vacuity I perceive. The fair, a strange alternate universe of indulgence and

the relentless pursuit of more, embodies the ethos of capitalist society, revealing the neverending

chase for external satisfaction and of course, the need to WIN big stupid prizes. What

has always been an anticipated delight turned into a morbid fascination—a microcosm

reflecting the twisted essence of American life.

In tandem with representational imagery, I challenged myself to create solely from

memory. After years of rigorous technical training in realism, I felt hollow and unfulfilled. It

was a crisis of sorts. Rejecting the reliance on reference material became a reckoning, a path

to confront my vulnerabilities. This approach yields a rawness in my art—a caricature-like

quality and a textured surface wrought from countless failed attempts. What remains is

evidence of a search. Working from memory lays bare the extent of my capabilities, forcing

an honest confrontation with my limitations as an artist.