THIRST TRAP Painting

Carlos is a Miami-born, Colombian artist currently residing in Los Angeles. ALL of his life, he struggled with ADHD and OCD. As a coping mechanism, he developed elaborate mental systems to process information. The work gives the viewer a unique look into the way Carlos’ mind works. Is he leaning into his OCD or fighting against where his brain naturally wants to go? When his internal systems became heavy, painting became a way to allow the levity, and the messiness of life in. “For me, painting is a way to explore the realm of risk—risk of disrupting the order, the systems… allowing a certain sense of wild to infiltrate clean lines is an experiment, I never know what will happen. In this way, art is a perpetual practice for me, something I keep returning to because it’s the one place I can make space for both the control and the chaos.”