I build abstract pattern paintings in layered oil, exploring where the body belongs on the earth and what it means to carry a homeland inside you when that land is no longer yours. Drawing on the memory of textiles, the cellular structures of nature, and the visual language of diaspora I create dense, restless fields of form and color that hold both grief and beauty at once.

My vocabulary of nested ovals, rounded rectangles, and interlocking organic shapes reads like a kind of cellular language, almost biological or microscopic, as if painting the texture of living systems. Every inch of the canvas is active, an underlying rhythm governs how the forms cluster and breathe. The color is confident and joyful, even when the subject is loss.

These paintings have real presence in a room. They reward the kind of looking that reveals more over time — and what you find in them is yours.

About the influence of music on my work

The name devildoll comes from the band X, a punk band from L.A., I found that punk filled many holes in me for many years. So much humor and pain in the punk and hardcore movement, and it fed my soul for a long time. Music is healing and art is expression. It comes from every part of me. Punk was a family I was trying to join, I thought it would fill that hole in me, rootless hole. It did not fill that hole, it really didn't want me either. Nowadays music is still a major source of creativity and inspiration. It is hard to specify the music type I listen to now, but I am always searching for new music and going down rabbit holes of different types. (Thanks Pandora!) A few of my current faves are Tame Impala, Ben Bömer, Tycho, Amon Tobin, Aquasky, alt-J, Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Caribou, Aan, Chet Faker, Deadmau5, Bonobo, Yppah. And of course, Hip Hop, especially from the early days. I use a lot of lyrics and song titles as titles to paintings and you may recognize some Tom Waits, Tame Impala, Cat Power and Beck. The underlying mood and poetry of these musicians and writers inspire me and sometimes capture the moment of expression better than I ever could.