Artist Statement

My work is a visual diary of my human experience and an examination of the human condition of suffering. My desire is to reach universal truths by exploring my specific experience and the experiences of my family. As I grew into myself as an artist and adult, I became aware of the humanity of my parents, and their parents, and so on. I want to lead a visual conversion on how the microcosm of one person’s life, including my own, is able to lead us to a greater understanding of our purpose as a collective humanity in our shared suffering.

I was born to seemingly opposite parents: a German Catholic aristocrat born and raised in Mexico and a blue collar farmer’s son from Texas. The outcomes of their upbringing both resulted in deep suffering and they coped with these in very different ways. However, their copping mechanisms have a universal context. My vision is unify these crutches and examine the comforts in which, for example, both a sports car and Jesus Christ may bring. Marrying the aspects of culture, class, and religion into artworks acts as a cathartic exercise to understand them, myself, and hopefully, humanity.

Through abstracted collaged shapes, windows into representational figures and objects, a new reality emerges. This reality filled with familiarity is where I can begin to soothe pain. My design elements rise from an interest in advertisement and graphics. Advertising creates an artificial world close enough to reality that we believe it’s real. This masterful illusion parallels my attraction to constructed realms, an attempt to comfort what isn’t truly real. Figurative and floral elements are used as the life forces in the collaged compositions. Some figures are familiar, others are selected for their role in every day life. Botanicals stem from pools of mysterious or implied origin alluding to their purpose as a life source. Bright and soft colors add to the push and pull between sources of comfort. Utilizing traditional art and craft making techniques in a contemporary fashion pays mind to the timelessness to themes of the human condition.

Creating from what is the most intimate to oneself often becomes the most universal. It does aim to be self-involved, but rather seeks to open a conversation and find connection. In a day and age in which information is abundant, overwhelming, and conflicting, my purpose is driven by a deep desire for personal and communal healing in our shared suffering.