I grew up in Southern California and Chicago which developed my appreciation for culture and art. It wasn’t until I moved to Reno that I became inspired by Nature and began to grow into an artist, starting as a graphic designer and eventually falling in love with the age old tradition of painting. Although it was graffiti, skateboarding, anime, comics and cartoons that introduced me to the arts, it would be the sprawling landscapes and the great outdoors of Northern Nevada that truly inspired me. Themes of Nature are a constant in most of my work in the hopes that I engage the audience with a sense of beauty, wonder and meaning. I use bright saturated colors and illustrative line work to bring the different Fauna and Flora I paint to life. It is in the contrast of colors and composition that I encompass both the real and the surreal with humor and emotion, building a passionate world of imagination and provocative thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Nature conspires with spirit to emancipate us," and it is this philosophy which informs both myself and my work in the attempts to bridge the gap between modern cultures and the transcendence of nature.
