Akuma Painting

I'm an emerging artist based in the United States. After spending the last ten years traveling the globe as a performing circus artist, I've started painting again. I'm fascinated with color, movement, and texture. I like to work with limited palettes and a variety of mediums, from acrylic and latex paint to oil pastel and gouache, to metal leafs and marker. I like to make marks with unusual utensils, including string, wooden spoons, spackling tools, combs, and traditional brushes. My art focuses on the process of mark-making, layering, and overall, improvising. What comes from this process is inspiring and comforting. The emotional process of making my artwork mirrors my own high anxiety. When I feel something passionately, my whole world becomes a work of abstract expressionism. I find myself grasping at words and phrases as I try to pontificate my way out of simply being in my own emotions. As I learned not to talk so much, I learned not to panic. What came about was a newfound love for abstract artwork and for making it. My physical experiences from the circus are apparent in my broad, sweeping gestures, balance, and rhythm. But the process of grasping at a word, which used to make me feel so small and afraid, now serves as a powerful and generous muse. This depth of feeling is what sets my art apart. I go forth with all of my intensity and muscle memory to create artwork that is thrilling. Each series I make is based around a broad and difficult concept that is personally fraught with distress, ecstasy, hope, or worry. Whenever I can't get a grip, I pick up a brush. I personally believe that abstract expressionism can take all the light and dark feelings we have and render them beautiful. I love having a hand in that process. My influences include historical and contemporary artists from Toulouse-Lautrec to Agustí Puig, Pat Stier, and Ricardo Weisse.