Archives of a mind that won’t shut up.
There Is Time
Evidence
There Is Time (2020)
— MEDIUM/TOOLS
0.8 Rotring black Ink pen and color markers on 110 g/m² paper
— HEIGHT/WIDTH
14 x 11 (in)
— YEAR PRODUCED
2020
Nature has its way of warning me: as bodies react to threats, they urge us to take action; malnutrition, loneliness, restlessness, anxiety, lack of sleep, avoidance, unemployment, and a general distrust of the world, seem to take their toll on my surroundings; The sink, a hangar of bacteria, the garbage pile, downtown square.
So, I make an inventory of “things” in my possession to discard what no longer serves me and make room for change: the food, the pants, the letters I never sent, my digital personas, books and shelves, more collectibles of value, and others that lost their shine; earrings she left behind… But a cleaning day had turned into a double day and extended onto paper, which is what this Artwork represents: It is the unpacking of cluttered boxes of thought, driven by a need to resolve contradictions in my mind, terrified of the idea that I might have overlooked past mistakes, conflicts, and traumas actively hidden in plain sight and camouflaged as routine.
But what’s worth mentioning to me are the letters O C D: the final detail of the piece and a defining moment that sheds light on potential issues to address and be mindful of in future endeavors. “There is time” is inspired by The Verve’s “Urban Hymns:” Lead singer Richard Ashcroft shouts it repeatedly in “This Time,” and I use it here as a reminder that it’s okay to roam through life at my own pace.
The Book of Things I Don’t Deserve
Triptych
— MEDIUM/TOOLS
0.8 Rotring black Ink pen on 110 g/m² paper
— HEIGHT/WIDTH
11 x 8.5 (in)
— YEAR PRODUCED
2023
This trilogy traces the arc of love as a futile yet necessary game—one where the rules shift mid-play, and the scorekeeper is blindfolded! It begins with a Boy suspended between the Giant’s judgment and the Woman’s grasp (Image 1, Left), his fate dissected by whispers and star-ringed fingers. Here, the heart is both trophy and casualty.
The 2nd Image is a baseball metaphor: Strike three! But the counting continues… Four, five, ad infinitum. Romance, like sports, demands unreasoned milestones, yet the heart keeps swinging even when the stands are empty. My overwhelming lack of company.
Finally, the Wolf’s howl (Image 3, Right)—a raw confrontation with absurdity. The book’s empty pages mock the search for meaning, while the wounded animal (instinct) and the adrift man (reason) bleed into the same ocean. To love is to tear open the chest and whisper, ‘This might kill me, but I’ll do it again.’ The series is a ledger of undeserved gifts: pain, clarity, and the stubbornness to imagine happiness anyway.
Dreamcore—You’ve Been Here Before
Glitch Prayers
— MEDIUM/TOOLS
Digital Collage
— DIMENSIONS
480 x 480 (PX)
— DATE
2022
These images are the wallpaper of my sleep paralysis—a place where every door is unlocked, but none lead out. They are my personal interpretation and exploration of Dreamcore de-reality and the uncanny familiarity of places we’ve never been—a paradox that mirrors how memory distorts and reconstructs itself. These collages are fragments of a half-remembered dream: Staircases leading nowhere, faces blurred by time, landscapes that feel like déjà vu. I used glitch effects and layered textures to mimic the brain’s attempt to stitch together incoherent scenes, where the mundane (a chair, a window) becomes charged with eerie significance. The 6x6 grid is intentional—a mosaic of ‘clues’ that invite the viewer to wander through their own subconscious, asking: ‘Why does this feel like home?’
45: Become Your Greatest Version
Reflection
Calmly—Page 45
— MEDIUM/TOOLS
0.8 Rotring black Ink pen and color markers on 110 g/m² paper
— HEIGHT/WIDTH
11 x 8.5 (in)
— YEAR
2017
There is (nothing) inherent in repeating an activity (even thousands of times) that necessitate you being miserable in Life. Some days you’re going to win, and some days you’re going to lose; it’s inevitable. The value of your Life does not revolve around you being “coded” as a winner or a success or an accomplished person in way X, Y, or Z.
And the fact that Life tells you nothing about what the point of Life is doesn’t have to pain you, anger you, or depress you: In reality, we need none of that. The struggle toward the heights and the struggle to move from day to day is already enough. Your everyday tasks are already enough; the simple process of being alive is already enough to fill your heart, soul, and mind. You don’t need overweening ambitions, you don’t need things to hope for, you don’t need grandiose meanings to fill your awareness with, you don’t need some Grand answer to Life’s riddle, and you don’t need to fill in the gaps to the questions that remain unopen for you. Life itself is already sufficient, complete, and worth experiencing, quite apart from whether you accomplish a lot or not. It simply doesn’t care, and there’s a kind of beauty in that: Well, if life “really” doesn’t care, maybe you’re “really” free; Maybe you’re “really” fundamentally and finally free.
Inspired by the philosophy of French Algerian existentialist Albert Camus, this drawing captures a man sitting idly by the smoke of a cigarette, in a meditative state of defiance, indifferent to the Journey of the soul and its Ascension from the physical body after death. The Kanji character at the center of the spiral is a Japanese term for “Heavens:” I use it here to mark a point where all things meet.
Untitled “AA”
Evidence
— MEDIUM/TOOLS
Bic® Cristal Large 1.6mm Blue
— HEIGHT/WIDTH
11 x 8.5 (in)
— YEAR
2018
As children, we tend to look up to the older kids, our parents (and) families; we seek guidance, protection, and information because we assume they’re invincible and have all the answers to anything. But growing older, I am learning that lots of it were “pretend,” assumptions, and “knowledge” acquired through trial and error, and everyone is just doing their best trying to figure out how to walk the earth. Because we can set up general guidelines and rules, we can pass them on to generations and build a collective consensus, except no knowledge is absolute, and what works for one might not work for another: Today, my beliefs are not the same as they were five years ago, and in ten years I’ll be viewing the world through different lenses, it’s a process; I remember being adolescent thinking I’ve had it all figured out, only to face with absurd challenges that force new perspectives on things. This drawing represents a dialogue between the clashing voices of the inner child, the adolescent, and the adult: I believe a big part of healing is to have difficult conversations, but most importantly, with yourself.
Now, Now, Now, And so on…
Philosophy
All I am, is now.
Now is all I will ever be.
Now is where all things begin.
Now is where all things end.
In this work, I get my inspiration from the teachings of Chinese (philosopher) and sage Lao Tzu and his classic text Tao Te Ching:
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1:
“The Tao that (can be told) is not the eternal Tao. The name that (can be named) is not the eternal name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.”
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 41:
“When a superior person hears of the Tao, she diligently puts it into practice. When an average person hears of the Tao, he believes half of it and doubts the other half. When a foolish person hears of the Tao, he laughs (out loud) at the very idea. If he didn’t laugh, it wouldn’t be the Tao. Thus, it is said: The brightness of the Tao seems like darkness, the advancement of the Tao seems like retreat, the level path seems rough, the superior “path” seems empty, the pure seems tarnished, and true Virtue doesn’t seem to be enough. The Virtue of caution seems like cowardice, the pure seems to be polluted, the True square (seems) to have no corners, the best vessels take the most time to finish, the “greatest sounds” cannot be heard, and the Greatest image has no form. The Tao hides in the unnamed, yet it alone nourishes and completes all things.”