Artist and neuroscientist. Born and raised in south Texas. Based in California.

I learned early in my life that I’m a visual person. Nearly every school and lab notebook that I have ever owned is a mess of diagrams and doodles. I articulate myself best with images and I feel a deep need to be understood. This is why I paint. In that pursuit, my subject matter is primarily my lived experiences. I paint what I know and what I know best is myself and the cultures and environments in which I have navigated.

In my series “La Frontera”, I explore the various facets of living and growing along the Texas-Mexico border. As a teenager, I dreamt only of escaping South Texas to some romanticized vision of a modern U.S. metropolis. Now, some decades later I find myself desperately trying to understand that moment in my history and the culture from which I sprang. “Teotl” is an exploration of my wavering sense of spirituality. From its loss as a teenager to its sudden and unexpected re-emergence while living in Houston, Texas. Here, I pay tribute to those who ushered me along a different path and the ideas that emerged from them. Finally, in “Science and Nature” I contend with my identity as a biologist and neuroscientist. I render into images the contradictory beliefs and values that have emerged within me while navigating the echelons of academic and corporate science. Torn between the beauty that one can find under the microscope and in deep conversation with colleagues and the horror that comes with failure, alienation, and losing faith in ideas and institutions.

I primarily work in oil and each work almost always begins with the sudden emergence of an image in my mind. I have found that casual conversation or deep reading often gets the ball rolling. The people closest to me have probably heard me mutter under my breath mid-conversation “hmm, that would make a good painting”.  From there, I’ll write out the image (composition, color palette, theme) in either my notebook or more recently, a note-taking app on my phone. If the image runs deep, I’ll seek out thematically related literature to determine if this is a one-off or a wellspring.  From there, I start compiling and/or generating reference photos and drafting quick sketches in graphite, pen, or oil.

I draw inspiration from the moments in my life that can only be described as absurd, disturbing, and beautiful. From that, I hope to convey my mind – one rich in experience, critique, humor, and contradiction. Recently, I have been exploring juxtaposition – by placing symbols of vulgarity within a devotional framework I hope to challenge and dispel the artificial boundaries that we place between them.

My work has been published on knowingneurons.com and “The Beat” an art and literature journal published by The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. I’ve exhibited work at the Fremont Art Association’s Annual Art Show and “Beyond Boundaries” a juried exhibition at the Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, California.