A bygone era

(The works above are presented in reverse-chronological order)

There’s something to be said about finishing art school in 2020. My academy, AKI Academy of Art and Design, had its share of controversies and the appropriate reactions to them. Most of what I picked up while studying there were issues that didn’t directly apply to me, as I was housed in a separate studio downtown. The teachers would visit us after finishing their crits at the academy.

I won’t go into detail about the school’s problems; they can easily be found on Google. At the same time, we had the COVID-19 pandemic knocking on our door. My classmates and I spent a total of three and a half years on our curriculum. Which is pretty short. This school runs in my family. I love the AKI.

From that point, I took another five years to truly get to know my interests, and my interests are broad. Back then, it was difficult to see the unifying thread that sparked my attraction to specific subjects. But the older I get, the clearer it becomes. The past five years have been about training my intuition and exploring different approaches and stages of painting, as well as my surroundings and mental landscape. I almost never approached the canvas with a concept in mind; everything was an act of improvisation. I wanted to reveal things that couldn’t be restrained—to let the work unfold naturally.

Looking back, the paintings might have been secondary to the true work I was doing: documenting my exploration. Following the breadcrumbs of a certain mystery. Some self-deluded attempt to find or communicate the unexplainable.