My current cloud compositions deal with the idea of conflict and turbulence, both domestically and abroad. These clouds also double as nebulas, contracting and expanding energy around the idea of conflict. These works deal with notions of political strife coexisting with environmental concerns, and create compositions of smaller troubled environments coexisting in larger yet equally troubled ones. There are fragmented figurative elements existing within and outside of these clouds, as well as tools, weapons, and vices.

 My current work deals with the materiality of paint through varied applications, surface development, and color to contribute to both the pictorial and expressive qualities of an image. I do this through a combination of figure and landscape studies, and recontextualizations of paintings from art history. I am refining my palette, surface, and space by focusing on color interactions, brushwork, and their relationship to the picture plane. In my paintings I tell stories of identity, heritage, and family.

 My recent body of work attempts to answer a question I’ve been asking myself for a long time: How specific a story do I want to tell?

 I seek to create work that is continuously looking forward. I use abstract forms and brushwork, juxtaposed with refined figures and structures that emerge through the encased space as if they were jumping out at you. These techniques are utilized to create the feel of anticipation for the viewer. I want them to feel as if they are sitting on the brink of something big and something new. I also use African American males as the main subject for each work. This comes from a desire to see Black men represented better in society and the arts, in a more positive light.

 I am interested in the visual and communicative potential of objects that are cast off, discarded, and overlooked. Inherent to still life is an engagement with the mundane and domestic, as well as the notion of an arrested visual experience. These subjects, their intrinsic intimacy, and the process of working from life are rich with pictorial and conceptual possibilities.

 The North American landscape and respective lifestyle is the foundation for my investigation of domestic space, land use, identity, and consumerism. I question the cultural obsession with the “dream home” and the underlying normativity present in these everyday spaces, asking if individualism exists in prefabricated choices.

 An heirloom rocking chair in need of restoration was my inspiration to learn to cane, which evolved into an ongoing series of paintings and mixed media works investigating the forms and textures of chairs and interior spaces. Drawers and boxes in my studio overflow with scraps collected for the past twenty years—treasured family photos, heirloom embroidery, pieces of chair upholstery, vintage drawer liners, richly colored and textured textiles, stacks of children’s drawings—bits and pieces of stories and nostalgia, a collection of a lifetime.

 Recently I have been painting bodies and hands. And these questions keep coming up: How does a painting function as a surrogate for a body? Can a painting reach a level of intimacy and touch, as bodies can? And can imagery that toggles between states of visibility speak to those who are themselves caught between two worlds?

 My work involves overlapping combinations of media. Photo transfer and paint are combined with clay, and photographs are transferred, screenprinted, or collaged into paintings. I welcome the expressive possibilities of not limiting myself to a single medium. As well, I work loosely to encourage unplanned, intuitive outcomes. Nature for me is a frequent source of imagery, lessons, and metaphors. A recurrent theme in my work is the memento mori.

 My current work explores my life experiences as contained in objects collected, moments remembered in form, and shapes organized onto the painting surface. Currently, my practice looks like anthropological dig meets cabinet of curiosities. I draw from objects in my home—pots made by friends, a handful of sand I collected while visiting my sister in Kuwait, a cast of my dad’s teeth, my grandmother’s seashell collection from years spent in the Philippines.