I have always felt most at home in music. I learned how much art means to me through my favorite musicians, people who I felt finally mirrored so much of my understanding of the world. Artists who reflected back at me things that I had recognized within myself and struggled to see in those that surrounded me. I have been drawing since before I can remember, but when I discovered music, I understood the gravity of what art can carry. I began to use portraiture to express how the musicians I love help me to see the world in a language that echoed with my internal notions and observations. It gives me a deep sense of belonging the likes of which I have not experienced elsewhere.

The aesthetics of the artists I love, as a representation of their sound, their message, and their artistry, was something I was increasingly motivated to capture as I learned observational drawing. It is an expression of the liberation I felt in existing within their music and live shows. It became a statement of my own identity by extension, in specifically choosing to depict what I felt most at peace within. In understanding why the person I am depicting inspires me so much, I can feel safe in introspecting on my own values, through a pure exchange of their creative output and my own.

I view portraiture as a tool to commemorate the mark a person has left in the world. I believe the connections we make with others is perhaps the most pure and essential thing we do throughout our lives, and to use art to convey such connections is a beautiful acknowledgement of that person’s existence. I strive for a portrait to feel true to the subject’s nature and unique characteristics, in a way that would feel authentic to those who know them.