I’m a surrealist figurative artist and writer based on the California Central Coast. I use traditional and mixed media to create culturally subversive art - disquieting or whimsical visual allegories, metaphors and mythological references that express my visceral impressions of the crises of normalized social inequality. I aim to subvert the dreadfully normal in contemporary culture through my art, to challenge viewers’ assumptions of what is real. If you witness that social dysfunction has become the norm, do you still want to be considered “normal”?

The artists and writers of early Dada and Surrealism developed these cultural movements in the early Twentieth Century in reaction to the horrors of war. They sought to inspire viewers to explore the hidden truths of the subconscious mind, and further to reject capitalist notions of normality. I acknowledge their major influence in both my visual style and personal views, especially important today as large sectors of the population embrace inequality as normal.

In contrast to much of contemporary surrealist art, my work aims to go beyond the creation of merely fantastical imagery to revive the concept of storytelling. My works draw on the imagery of mythical archetypes, dreams, altered states and my own personal life. As an Asian immigrant male with nearly seven decades in the American experience, my life passages span the emotional and physical range from traumatic to the beautiful.

While shocking images may initially compel viewers’ attention, I intend that the stories I embed in my art resonate in their hearts and minds to prompt recall of stories in their own lives. These in turn may evoke awareness and compassion of the life experiences common to us all - traumas and transcendence, failures and redemptions, losses and recoveries.

The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller stated that artists can subvert the banality of social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, my paintings and drawings might even entertain you, even as they subvert your sense of normality.