"If Thoughts and Prayers Could Stop Bullets" Painting

I’ve always made art to explore my imagination and to satisfy my own curiosity. It’s through art, and through the reflecting that occurs while I’m making art, that I’ll try to improve myself as an individual and better understand the world around me. The art I make attempts to provoke thought. My body of work follows the underlying themes of bettering ourselves and bettering the human condition. It represents a hope for positive change. Each individual painting has its own meaning or tells its own story though, and like each of us individuals, they too are all just pieces of the bigger picture. I paint one painting at a time; each for me is an intimate engagement. A varying of style and technique within my work plays to the idea that the world can not be fully understood when viewed through a single lens. It’s our open-mindedness and a willingness to understand one another that will continue to propel the human race forward; not tribalism and isolationism. By presenting imagery inside solid black borders, I attempt not only to unify these seemingly disparate paintings, but also to represent the darkness that at times will inherently surround us all in life. The vibrancy of my work represents the brighter side of life, and aims to contrast and balance out the darkness.