Self talk - 2019
How is your work unique?
My work is like capturing screenshots from dreams while wide awake. In the hustle of daily life, finding a moment to immerse oneself in a mindful dreamlike state is invaluable.
How do you do your work?
First, I mentally eliminate all the colors I don't want in my composition. Following numerous unanticipated accidents, I cling to the last color or element I liked. This experimentation becomes an endless journey of expression. For me, this process is akin to a struggle to rediscover the purity of a white canvas. What I spontaneously add to this minimalist emptiness are my observations. And what are these subconscious observations? Beyond the physical, the fluctuating aura frequencies and their inexplicable colors uniquely convey a being's soul state. Thus, I attempt to portray people's inherent madness or innocence through my daily experiences. The end result? A composition that starkly contrasts with the empty canvas, a conclusion that invariably motivates me to start over.
Explain your work to a child.
Hey, kiddo, imagine how you feel playing with Legos or watching cartoons with a bowl of cereal. That's how I feel when I paint. The difference is, your imagination hasn't been limited by boring reality yet. You dive into a game, believing it's real. That's the mindset I try to adopt. I start with a blank canvas and draw people the way I see them, just like you'd believe in your games. Some people are good, some are not; some are vulnerable, and others might be harmful. I place them in scenes where they interact, transforming them into my play figures rather than strangers on the street. Their appearances—skin color, muscles—are not always realistic. It's not about idolizing or despising; it's about curiosity and play.
Who are your influences?
As a teenager, my search for meaning was shaped by two main ideas. The Renaissance concept, with its themes of death and rebirth, inspired me to continually reinvent myself. Then, the Poetes Maudits, like Baudelaire and Rimbaud, with their quest to find beauty in the mundane or ugly, pushed me beyond traditional boundaries. My background in architecture allowed me to think abstractly about the dynamics of form. Influences from Italian Futurism, experimental jazz like Sun-Ra, and Tupac's raw energy form my foundational influences. Post-WWII artistic expression, with its safe nihilism, helped me find meaning in our technologically saturated world.
Who is your audience?
My art is for anyone seeking to understand chaos from a childlike perspective—the purest way to engage and interpret it. It appeals to those willing to introduce a piece of organized chaos into their personal spaces, especially bedrooms, where dreams and reality blur. My aim is to transform traditional dogmas into a "genderless" and "colorless" journey.
