My art is theory you can fuck. I am inspired by Georges Canguilhem's definition of normativity as "a value disguised as a fact." My art seeks to expose that value by presenting an alternative that is both strange and simple enough to demand examination. I am also inspired by the divide between academic theory with its high barrier to entry, and social media with its algorithm-friendly oversimplifications and bad-faith interpretations. My visual work seeks to bridge this gap, to offer an actionable alternative with sharp teeth.
I was introduced to visual art as a teenage delinquent in San Francisco, tagging walls with spray paint or postal stickers. I gave up the EDM career I spent most of my life building to transition in private, returning to music as an honest but far less “socially acceptable” version of myself. I am also a sex worker and porn performer. No matter what form my creativity takes, I know that liberation requires coloring outside the lines.
My paintings are rooted in real, human experience. I use my own body as a grounding device, painting nude self-portraits in positions of vulnerability, sexual expression, and/or power. Sometimes I exist in a defined space, sometimes I live in abstract on spray paint backgrounds and illustrative forms. Occasionally the bodies I paint are not mine, but generic forms that explore other kinds of experience. I use a combination of techniques I picked up in my street art days, blended with self-taught traditional techniques to make these figurative works. In my new body of work, these serve as the backdrop for stenciled texts that expose and defy normativity.