These Places Untold arrived to me early 2021 in Austin, Texas where I learned the basics of a sewing machine. Like a child at play with a new material to make art, I began to create mystical scenes, piecing together various fabric scraps and sewing them together in very rough construction. After completing a dozen or so collages I decided that one day they would be references for large paintings. But as the lockdowns continued, I watched with disgust and anger as the public hopelessly attacked itself. I couldn’t focus on art making, I had to leave. By the end of 2021, the Old Mule (my 1995 Isuzu Trooper) and I made it to Baja Sur, potentially for good. As the summer of 2022 arrive, I watched as the lockdowns lifted and hatred began to dissolve, I decided to bring a dream to life and paint in New Mexico; all the famous painters have painted there why not me too. Before I left Baja, I secured a casita in Chimayo and made my way north. But the Old Mule and I didn’t make it, we broke down in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It would take weeks for my truck to get fixed and so it was decided I would set up a studio in TorC. In the perfect place of quiet solitude, this is where I began painting These Places Untold. These Places Untold have come to be as the result of 20 years painting experience in the acrylic medium. I began as a self-taught artist then chose to study renaissance life drawing classically at The Mark Kang-O'Higgins Atelier at the Gage Academy in Seattle, Washington, where I learned to see and observe life. I was a BFA candidate, accepted to San Francisco Art Institute with a Presidential Scholarship. In 2014, I attended drawing classes at Artist Student League in New York City; that’s where all the famous artists hung out as well, so I gave myself that experience. For the past 10 years, my focus has been on cows, Vibrant Cows (vibrantcows.com). These Places Untold would not exist without the focus on the cows, the work ethic instilled from my family, and perhaps most importantly, not letting the imagination die after 47 years of living. These Places Untold come from where the inner child lives and I can't tell you what that means. Oh and no, these paintings have nothing to do with day of the dead. These Places Untold are a day of life that arise from the innocence of a child-like imagination.
