Suenos
The three pieces below are each a reinterpretation of a memory, all are colorful, distorted, and created as an act of love. My paintings are precious to me, becoming tangible souvenirs from fleeting moments in my life. Every brushstroke reshapes the original image into something new but still familiar.
You might notice that the subjects’ eyes are never open. They, too, exist within a dreamlike space, suspended between reality and imagination. The piece invites you to question what is real and what is make-believe, and to find your own meaning within that world.
Hamaya Soba House
Three siblings and their matriarch chat outside a common meeting ground next to the Sunabe Sea Wall in Okinawa, Japan. Though the building hasn’t changed over the years, they have. Life has brought them from the treasured island to the U.S., and the soba house has become a pilgrimage that brings a sense of certainty and familiarity when they return back to their roots.
Shhh…She’s Reading
A girl lays suspended in water, calmly reading her book, as the tide wraps around her feet begging to drag her under. She is lost in her own world seemingly undisturbed by the chaos around her.
Saint Michael
Saint Michael, protector of warriors, is juxtaposed by the image of a young man with a cigarette hanging between his lips. Youth with no fear of death, even a beckoning toward it’s martyrdom.
Red Lines of Fate
This piece is a culmination of images that evoke contemplations on longing, grief, and fleeting connections. I created this short film in February 2023 in collaboration with my dear friend Jose Arriaga. Although made two years before the Sueños series, it serves as a precursor to the themes I explore through my paintings, which is why I include it here.
Red Lines of Fate was inspired by an idea of invisible red lines connecting us to people that we are destined to come across in our lifetime. Typically those who feel like soulmates or twin flames. I’ve been lucky enough to encounter people like this early in my life, and whether they know it or not, they’ve changed the trajectory of my life for the better.
The song is titled “The Evil That Never Arrived,” by Stars of the Lid.
