When did you realise that art was essential in your life? Was it a gradual approach, or was there something specific that pushed you towards it?

I think art has always been important to me. When I was young I grew up skateboarding and there seemed to be a huge sense of individuality in that. I stuck to it as a way of self expression and falling deeper into that led me into interest in making art. Skate culture at the time was rich with music and generally just led youth into interests outside of their natural circles. When I was a teenager my mom brought me to LACMA and MOCA which led me to finding out about a lot of LA art and exposed me definitely to something I never would have seen had I not been taken there frequently. I also think going to New York a lot when I was 19/20 quickly introduced me to a load of European art that I had no previous knowledge of.

Tell us about your creative process. How much time do you usually take to complete an art piece, and how do you feel when your vision comes to life on canvas?

When I did my first solo show, which was at smart object, I was making a painting in a day. And I think for those paintings it was essential due to trying to capture an image that felt like a frozen image in time rather than something that has more subtly. Those images were direct and confrontational. They told you to look at them. The paintings I’ve been making in the last few years definitely encapsulate similar aesthetics and
Emotion but done through different processes. I spend a few weeks on each painting. It’s pretty rare to spend less than 2 weeks on something. I have been working on square abstractions lately that I only work on during the hours when natural light is available and taking about 2-3 months per painting usually adding something to it each day or every other day.

Your aesthetic seems to evoke techniques and eras of the past, but in terms of themes it communicates contemporary and timeless feelings. Are there specific messages you intend to express, or is it pure stream of consciousness?

It’s pretty stream of consciousness. That first show was really about the subconscious and being left to deal with your self. It happened to coincide with Covid and which maybe changed or perpetuated the context but the goal was to make paintings about feelings of fear, self haunting, etc. since then I’ve been making work that is really free and have the hand take over. I’ll make gestures that follow guidelines but I’ll see something in those gestures which change the course of the painting and lead me to new images. I think my style changes a lot or is looser than it used to be but it’s not planned, it’s all just feeling.

Your works resemble dreamlike visions; has the theme of dreams and nightmares always been part of you or are there specific elements (artists, scientists, films) that inspire you?

I’ve always been inspired by Los Angeles artists. Mike Kelley was obviously a huge influence. That whole school of artists brought a more confrontational approach to making art about the psyche.