Transformation

The architectural space I am designing starts as a tight hallway, smaller than any you might walk down in any conventional building. As you walk along cracks begin to appear, arching from the floor on one side, up to the ceiling, and down to the floor on the other side. Additionally, the space moves from a traditional structure with distinct walls and ceiling to a smooth, continuous dome shape. Progressively the cracks grow in size and number until the hallway breaks apart and opens up to the outside. Shards of the structure continue to disperse until nothing remains. The space makes its transformation in form through sharp gaps which begin subtly and grow progressively more harsh and noticeable. The transition is intended to be a mix of natural and artificial. For some people, the tight space at the beginning may feel comforting and safe while the progression to the outside feels exposing and uncertain. Others may find the start to be restricting and the end to be liberating. With any interpretation I want the viewer to come away with acceptance and gratitude for being able to experience change, the only constant and dependable thing in life.

Beauty and More Beauty

My project began by creating an audio piece from sounds I collected in my house and while walking around downtown Oakland. I wanted to create a project that reflected and could serve as part of my practice to appreciate and find beauty in the mundane, trivial, and repetitive parts of everyday life. Using the sounds of brushing teeth, traffic, eating, and other tasks we complete multiple times a day, I created a soundscape that recontextualized the less glorious moments of our lives as something more. After creating this piece of sound art I was tasked with adding a visual element to it. As I sat grumpily in Bay Bridge traffic on my way to school one morning I realized that my commute has to be one of the most beautiful in the whole world, and there I was wishing I could just get it over with. As I filmed traffic day after day I knew that forcing the viewer to sit through this beautifully infuriating moment with me would be the perfect way to visualize the goal of finding the value in all these moments we take for granted.

DOUBLEDOUBLE

This painting was inspired by a moment, an experience I had getting In-N-Out Burger with my friend. We had just pulled into a parking spot right in front, just to the right of the front door. As I got out, laughing with my buddy about something stupid one of us had said I heard a man shout. I looked up startled to see a man staring back at me and he shouted again, "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING MAN YOU HIT MY CAR!" As I was still only halfway out the car I looked down at the door I was holding, wondering if I had really been so careless and unaware that I hit a car without even knowing it. I had never seen more space between two adjacently parked cars in my life. Even if I taped a ruler to my door and threw it open, it wouldn't have hit the car. I relaxed a little but I was just as confused as ever as I continued through this strange interaction, telling the man that I hadn't hit his car while he insisted that he had seen me do it. I didn't bother to stop and try to convince him, my friend and I just continued on to get our burgers, assuming this dude must be drunk or on some shit. But it was one of those moments that I just couldn't forget, and I still can't forget that uneasy feeling of confusion and disbelief. For a moment I questioned and actually stopped trusting my instincts and my experience of not hitting that car, and began to wonder if my faculties were betraying me. It was one of those glitch in the matrix moments.

I made this painting thinking about human experience and the subjectivity of it all. I took this picture in the car as we drove away, still in a daze. To me it perfectly embodies the confusion of the moment and the groundlessness of existence. I particularly love the way it literally shows the same shot from different perspectives using the streaks of light. This piece was also the basis for my later series titled Dark, which further explores these ideas of fear and disorientation in the face of unknowing. I wanted to examine the way darkness leaves everything up to the emotion and imagination of the viewer.