Sobre el Artista

It is easy for me to call myself an “artist” and know that the term is broad enough to cover not just my role as a professional painter but also whatever I might be following while I am attempting to figure out what to paint next. I find comfort in this refuge that art provides for me because labeling “what” I am, (an artist), is ironically less complicated than defining “who” I am. In a world that many theorists are now crowning with the fuzzy label of “post-racial” I am constantly reminded of the obliqueness of my “who”. Growing up in the Southern part of the United States as the son of a Filipina mother and a Yankee father I was aware of all the contradictions and treasures that this contemporary dynamic propagates. My artwork is by no mistake a reflection of this rich mix. To do this I play with the tropes of traditional landscape painting filtered through the Asian, American, Northern and Southern cultures that form my understanding of the world. Sometimes this manifests in a formal and austere manor as can be seen in the well practiced and disciplined aspects of my paintings. Other times this manifests in ways that I can neither control nor define. At times I might unconsciously change my speech, mannerisms or demeanor. This is often in way that I am unable to create consciously. This combination of formal refinement and humorous inexplicability has been the hallmark of my life. Though this footing is at times a little un-sure, it has at the same time provided me with a unique vantage point to observe, record and paint the world from.