My paintings explore the threshold between the rational and the supernatural. Though I currently work primarily from photographs, I am continually trying to incorporate the fluidity I learned when painting from life, and create a real connection between the subject and the surface of the painting. A diverse set of subjects reflects my interest in ghosts, modern ruins, the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, and the subtext of ethnicity and gender in the American landscape. Cipo and Capeta depicts two Mexican-American capoeiristas playing the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, the dance-fight-game which grew out of cultural synthesis despite Brazil's history of colonialism, slavery and oppression. Fences, railings and other manmade barriers, frequently included in my paintings, are architectural reminders of America's class system. They are used to limit access to a privileged section of the built environment, to control borders, to mark the threshold between public and private land.

The paintings function as liminal spaces, transformative borderlands where past and present are interwoven. Generously painted shadows emerge as amorphous forms, playing with the figure/ground relationship, but also creating a narrative based on fluid paint. I invite the viewer to consider other hidden narratives by using visual signifiers of invisible phenomena, such as patterns, equations, orbs, and distortion.