.

at a first glance, my work may seem to be quite eccentric and erratic, but there are a few unifying ideals.

the central image in my work is the idea of duality-- to take two opposites and merge them seamlessly together to create an illustration or sequential piece of work. the most prevalent of these dualities in my work, particularly in relation to my illustration work, is to combine the beautiful and the grotesque. it tends to manifest in representing the grotesque in such a way that, upon first look, you see right past the gore and see the whole as an object of beauty, but when the viewer looks closer and deeper into the details and the construction of this assumed object, there's a slow realization and discovery of the actual nature of the piece. the idea of showing an emotional state of being in the physical state of a character interests me greatly and it will probably continue to be an image in my work for years to come. in addition to exploring duality, i like to focus heavily on emotional expression and representation in order to illicit an emotional reaction from the viewer.

in my career so far, i've focused heavily on representing a low art form in a high art fashion, utilizing galleries and installation to pose the idea that not all comic related and manga influenced artwork is garbage. i've pursued the development of a unique style of drawing from a background in manga and american comics in order to coerce people into taking the work seriously, to evoke an emotional and intellectual response, and even to force viewers to consider the work in the context of the style it is done in.

many consider me a guro artist these days and i won't argue it; it's a perfectly viable conclusion.

my philosophy about my artwork (and even artwork in general) revolves around the idea that everyone who comes into contact with anything will project his or her own backgrounds and experiences on it-- one person looking at a fork will never think the exact same thing as another person looking at a fork. so it is with artwork: the artist can place all the symbols on the page and set everything in place to tell a story of emotions from their own perspective, but the moment someone else looks at the piece, it is no longer the artist's story. a lot of people ask me what symbols in my work represent but the real question, which i always pose in response, is "what does it mean to you?"

i hope that you'll think deeply if you desire to understand my work because the truth is that my work is you.