My work explores new social, cultural, and political narratives through themes of relatedness and identity; who am I and how do I fit in? By juxtaposing the new and the old new art from old book covers voices across time speak to one another, thereby opening avenues toward meaning. I like to encourage the viewer to enter a disparate world of language, typography, and illustration styles that captures the eye and demands it to move back and forth among layers looking for signals, signs and clues. I aim for my art to culminate in a visual treatise on the recycling and renewal of popular culture.

How did you first get interested in your medium, and what draws you to it specifically?

I ve had a life-long obsession with old books and it s led me to discovery them as a unique art medium. Most of the books use in my art are damaged, tattered and torn, discarded and banished to the $1 shelf or garage bin. However, I see these books as little gems. Many have covers that were created with production processes that are no longer in practice. Most carry a heavy patina from all those years passing through the hands of multiple owners. In some ways, I feel my work rescues these books from destruction, giving them a second life in a different context to a new audience.

What excites me about book covers as a medium is there isn t anyone I ve found that s exploiting them in the way I do. There s no guide or example from which to follow no place to turn to where I can go,  Oh that s how you do it. I own my process and that s pretty exhilarating. Book covers aren t easy to work with. The cutting can be difficult and quite physical. Through trial and error, I ve amassed a small arsenal of tools that allow me to manipulate the medium and develop techniques for building my pieces.

I sketch a lot, so I begins there. Those sketches are then scanned and taken into the Illustrator where I make a very precise drawing to scale. During this part of the process I ll play with color and make decisions about design details. From there I print the drawing out and mount it thin plywood. If the design is a cutout, as in the case of a flower bloom or typography, then I make a form two identical pieces separated by wood struts. Now I m ready to start applying book covers to the surface. I generally don t know what books I will use beforehand, as I prefer to let that part of the process be spontaneous. It s much more surprising that way. My pieces are quite time intensive, taking anywhere from 1-4 weeks to complete depending on size.

My mentor in school once told me to  Put away that which you love. , meaning if you spend too much time admiring or idolizing someone else s work, it can result in frustration and potentially will hold you back.

Music plays a big role in the development of my art. It s playing constantly. I find it enhances my creative output. Wordplay is an important part of my work, and will quite often get ideas for pieces and/or titles from music.