Optimism Print

Optimism was painted in 2014 on Madison Avenue in New York City for my first show on October 23. The motive for this piece was a deep sense of hope for the world, for myself, for my future. I had been living in South Carolina for 18 years and was clawing to get out. When I finally arrived in NYC, I had nothing to lose and began painting to distance myself from the dead-end life I was once living. I wanted to be creatively free--there was so much more to life. Nobody thought I could do it, or would do it, or expected me to fail, to return home and rot. It was this very attitude that kept me painting. For everyone I knew who would never express themselves fully, I painted.