I am a Philadelphia-born, Austin-based figurative artist whose work explores intimacy, identity, family, healing, and the emotional language of the human body. Through painting and mixed media, I investigate how our bodies carry memory, desire, trauma, resilience, and love, creating work that invites viewers to slow down and find themselves in moments of quiet vulnerability.

I was raised in a single-parent household by my mother, who had me at just 16 years old as the first of her five children. As the oldest sibling, responsibility came early. By the age of 13, I was splitting my first paycheck with my mom to help support our family, leaving little time to invest in art, even though creating had always been where I felt most at home.

As I came to understand my identity as a gay man, that journey was often met with heartbreak and uncertainty. At 30, I experienced two things that changed my life.  I was diagnosed with HIV, a moment that forced me to confront fear, shame, and the relationship I had with my own body. This came news after being gang raped. A year later, I made the difficult decision to leave an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. Walking away from that chapter became more than an act of survival; it became the moment I returned to my art. A year later, I made the decision to leave an emotionally and physically abusive relationship while confronting addiction and beginning the difficult process of rebuilding my life. Those experiences not only led me back to painting but also deepened my commitment to HIV advocacy, using both my artwork and community work to challenge stigma, encourage honest conversations, and create spaces where people feel seen, informed, and less alone. Returning to painting became more than a creative practice, it became a way to reclaim my voice, process my experiences, and rediscover myself.