• the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax. The elevation of someone to divine status; deification.

  APOTHEOSIS as a series exists to absractly convey this ideology. Drawing influence from mythology, iconography, symbolism, scared geometry, and various othe storied ideals it speaks of histories and guidance to the future in its own language of combined materials. Its genesis is that of the rising of the Phoenix to transform, transcend and become that which is new and enlightened.

  Works have a composition of unconventional materials such as additives, concrete, metals, gold leaf, resin, sawdust, salt, various types of paint, mesh, flowers, etc all having a based of burnt shop Sufi ban treated distressed wood to symbolize this phoenix’s transformation. That in which, in order to construct, deconstruction has to occur to form a new sense of being and beauty.

• this is a collection of some of the works from this series.

By no means is my creative identity confined to one series, one notion, one body of work. I submit to the message, not the medium. I am a creative, not a conformist. These are some examples of where else the mind goes.

15 years ago I was doing research to creat a tech startup. In such I went down a rabbit hole and did an extensive study of selfies as wells internet culture. In 2013 the word “selfie” officially became a word. 1,000,000+ selfies are taken everyday and uploaded to socials. Be it to share an experience, show progressions or publicly pretend to be someone that they are not such behavior has become normal. In #theselfproject I wanted to delve deeper. I wanted to propose introspective thought into this behavior for those that became the participant in this cultures original and most simplistic form. loojking in a mirror. Inspired by Teddy Pendagrass’ “You can’t hide from yourself” as well as an earlier work of mine I constructed these mirrors. Each with its own phrase etched from the materials to become fused with the viewers physical. Once looked upon, they share an identity. They are one.

Invited the viewer to take a selfie and upload it to social media via the hashtag #theselfproject. in doing such I wanted to build a family of people that, no matter gender or orientation, age or sex, race or religion, could see that we all go through the same things, have similar thoughts and fears as well as joys. Being as such, why are we allowing the puppeteers to separated us and cause such divisions.

I am humbled by the personal testimonies that over 7,000 people showed their vulnerabilities in their posts. To date, January 2024, over 700,000 people have visited #theselfproject since its first public showing in 2018.

The majority of my works very heavy in its mixed media composition. In pictures, intricacies can be difficult to view. To get a better understanding of the work….details.