I create visual portraits, narratives that combine traditional drawing techniques with the language of graffiti and street culture. I primarily work with drawing, materials such as graphite, charcoal, paint markers, and mixed media on paper. My work extends from individual portraits to larger compositions ultimately bringing together fragments of time, people, symbols and words. My pieces become a space where hyperrealistic portraiture and the raw grit and grime of graffiti can coexist together cohesively. I am creating art pieces that feel personal and invite reflection on the environments and cultures that have shaped me.

   When I create, I am interested in the how. How do places and experiences become part of who we are ? I am especially drawn to the question of how stories that are overlooked can be preserved and given a new voice through art. I tend to think about the relationships between people and cultures that exist outside of the traditional, and ask what happens when those experiences are brought into that space. My desire to capture comes from an interest of what once was and what still is. A face can hold history, identity, memory, and pride, and I use portraiture as a way of making those things visible.

   My process begins with reflection, observation and experimentation. I study composition, expressions, light, shadow, texture, and the work of artists who have influenced the way I see. I allow the work to reveal rather than forcing every decision from the beginning. Drawing becomes a way of capturing what the piece questions. I build images through layers of newspapers, texture, line, color, and texts. I do not want to separate my work from the imperfections and rapid energy of street culture. Instead, I glorify those qualities in my process and allow them to challenge the controlled expectations often associated with fine art.

   My audience includes people who recognize themselves, their communities, or their personal experiences in my work, as well as who may not have encountered these histories before. I invite viewers to spend time observing, noticing, and questioning why certain forms of art and certain stories are valued more than others. I want the work to create a connection before it creates an explanation.

   My long history of training comes from both formal art education and a lifetime of drawing, experimenting, and studying the masters. I am living and breathing art, learning how to see as an artist and eventually applying that way of seeing to my own work. My experiences with graffiti, street culture, and growing up as a minority inform the way I understand art and its boundaries.

   This shows up in my work now as drawing portraits and storytelling with graffiti as a way of ripping away and telling new stories, ultimately challenging the fine arts industry unfolding and revealing unanswered questions.