I LOVE ART…

I remember as a little child my hands were always dirty with colorful paints and markers. When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with anime characters like Sailor Moon, and would illustrate my own  characters during lunch time. However, it was my time at Coronado High School in California that proved to be the most formative years, for developing my love for art. I was apart of CoSA (Coronado School of the Arts) in the Technical Theater program where I mostly explored costume design, lighting, and props. Then the school certified me in Graphic Design because I helped design the yearbook while on the yearbook committee. Lastly this is the time where I picked up my first camera, in which my friends and I would play dress up and capture memories at punk shows and the beach.

My first job out of high school was as a portrait photographer capturing photos of tourist on the lovely Mission Beach. After about 8 months, I found myself designing henna tattoos for international clientele consisting mostly of young adults and teenagers. I used photography as a marketing tool to document and promote my henna designs, and interned at a tattoo shop investigating color theory, human form, and illustration. My friends and I would have painting parties, art collaborations, and host art shows combining oil paints, body art, photography, costume designs, and illustrations. After 8 years of creating art, I decided to make the sacrifice and moved to the east coast to support my career goal of becoming an art director.

When I moved to the east coast, I found myself on the intellectual path of studying and creating art. I would continue to dedicate at least 15 hours a day engaging in art production. While this type of time consuming practice was not new, it was the intellectual exploration which enlightened me that all forms of art are important and interconnected with each other. Artists need to engaged in art history, literary theory, music history, aesthetics, color theory, fashion design, social studies, politics, creative writing, and museum studies to be successful. Art is not created in a vacuum, but as a reaction. This is why it's important for artists to explore all mediums and to study as many subjects as possible.

I have created over 500,000 pieces of art--paintings, photographs, illustrations, henna tattoos, graphics, designs, lettering, creative writings, and mix medias-- for clients, personal projects, social causes, and in collaboration. However, many of these pieces became lost in transit, so this portfolio only represents less than .0005% of my artistic production. One time, bubbly golden champagne spilled on my DSLR camera while riding in a limo in San Diego. Then some CF cards were corrupted and smashed on a road trip to San Francisco. Gorgeous life-size wall paintings were abandoned in a house that was later condemned. Books full of colorful illustrations stolen and lost in the gritty streets of Hollywood and Brooklyn. The worst part, was when hijackers corrupted my computer with ransomware that stole all of my files, while I was studying in Washington DC. This explains while my Graphic Design section is so skimpy.

But don't worry. All of this lost art has taught me a valuable lesson: ALWAYS TRIPLE BACKUP FILES!