I shall be very candid with you. Perhaps increasingly candid. Three years ago, I was lost in a fog of self-deprecation. I roamed the oatmeal shaded hallways and byways of my atypical suburban high school with no discernable sense of direction or purpose. My life was without vision. I felt void of feeling. Quickly losing faith in the supposed prosperity and potential of my “eco-booming” generation. I approached submission to the encroaching feeling of stagnation and detachment to a future unable to fulfill my inner desire for something significant.
Art entered my life as one of those happy accidents that more frequently pop up at the beginning of love stories, or perhaps even hate stories. No, “happy accidents” incite stories of passion, whichever end of the spectrum they may fall. I fell in love with art, I hated art, and sometimes I just wanted to be aggressively procreative with the entire concept of art. It was as simple as an indifferent excursion to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was a lazy day. I was hyperactive and young. Nonetheless, never have I more thoroughly praised the occasional shortcomings of the human attention span. I gained an insatiable hunger for the absurd, the abstract, and the bold. I was swept off my feet by the charms of Picasso and by the eye-catching appeal of Warhol. Colors became so terribly and nearly disgustingly vibrant that they seemed to project the elusive meaning of life in prominent neon. I wanted it. I wanted nothing more than to project my ideas into a tangible form, to take breaths away while spotlighting the often un-noticed moments and objects of life. I wanted to touch generations like the men and women I saw that day. The men and women I seemed to have met that day. I saw that as the sun sets and stars awake, the world truly does become a different place. My artwork is composed of these scenes of reality. I find it beautiful to meld colors and discover what will form beautiful compositions. Light is a huge force in my photographic work, as I prefer to allow it to alter and intensify colors and texture rather than making many alterations on the computer. Where necessary and for added dynamics, I do edit my photos in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Mixed media and collage work was my original medium, and I prefer to create abstractions in a very freeform style of painting implementing strong color combinations. Texture and color are the driving factors of my mixed media work, and I make them as prominent as possible. I enjoy delving into the complexities of the infamous “color wheel” and making complementary and counter complementary combinations. In general, I have an eye for simplistic subjects that I have made powerful.
Soon after my museum visit, I received a simple fortune cookie whose message read, “Your destiny lies before you, choose wisely”. I like to think that I have. Since I became an artist, my interests have expanded and spilled into many genres of artistic persuasion. In addition to showing in such venues as the Halifax Art Festival (Daytona Beach, Fl), the Volusia County Art Festival (Deland, FL), and the Florida Art Fair (Tallahassee, FL), I have also showed in the adjudicated Volusia County Students Select gallery show and competition. For these festivals, I have placed high, won various ribbons, and won the prestigious Award of Excellence at the Volusia County Students Select exhibition. I have also showed at local Daytona Beach venues such as the art house, and also have work up for sale.
Bright lights may blind, but pupils dilate. Never do I lose sight of my desires and dreams, and never do they wander. “ I could dream it forever and still not do it, but when the time comes for it do be done, God, I want to be ready for it, to be ready for the moment of convergence between the thing done and the doing of it, between the thing to be made and it’s maker. I am taking the part of us that cannot be understood…and letting it bleed from the wrist onto the canvas.” (Steve Martin) I strive for this kind of consistency, and hope that it shows a sort of retention of vision.

P.S. All of my photographic work can be size altered to nearly anything called for! I will also be posting photos of my mixed media paintings and collages soon.