Snow Cone Painting

As an introvert with a child-like imagination and an obsession with animals, I learned to escape into a world of my own creation where stuffed animals and model horses came to life. This animal obsession began in childhood when I started drawing and riding horses, continuing in my studies of zoology and veterinary medicine. My anthropomorphized animal portraits show animals typing, texting, taking selfies, and eating junk food at their workspaces. Superficially, these funny animal portraits seem sweet, wrapped in a sugar coating of shyness and childhood innocence. But in these imaginary scenes of animals immersed in man-made worlds of conspicuous consumption, there is an underlying commentary of a society of conformity, convenience, and conservation. Introspective, strange, and sweet, my art may first make you laugh, but then make you think. My process of creation involves the use of thick, visceral brushstrokes applied under high pressure, producing an unapologetically raw feeling of naïve dreaminess. My heavy-handed, pencil-like application of paint by intensive scrubbing further contributes to its rawness. Mainly inspired by nature and animals, my art is also influenced by the cinematography of Alfred Hitchcock films, the sweetness of Japanese Kawaii pop culture, and the dreaminess of Marc Chagall.