FINE ART

Watercolor, charcoal, Ink wash work on watercolor paper.

36" x 48" 

Created with a minimalist, distressed aesthetic sensibility to allude to the first impressions portrayed in cave art, for since then this animal has been misunderstood and persecuted. A beast that truly does stand for the American motto "E Pluribus Unum" and displays the strongest family values, is the most spurned creature across the stateliness. The wolf narrative needs to be rewritten and the myth of this creature needs to be dispelled, so it has a chance at survival in a world where the story this beautiful animal symbolizes is not in the least congruous with the reality of the creature. 

In Rudyard Kipling's words, "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."

Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint.

40" x 60"

Habitat loss due to mining, charcoal, and agriculture has resulted in extensive deforestation, as much as 400,000 acres a year in Tanzania alone.

Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint.

40" x 60"

Loss of brush land for fuel like charcoal is a huge problem for mega fauna, such as elephants, rhinos, and big cats that need a large expanse of land for survival. The need for charcoal is the most pronounced, as over 90% of Tanzanian households live off-grid with no access to renewable forms of energy, let alone gas or electricity.

Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint.

40" x 60"

The threats unfolding in the grasslands are multifold, but the loss of essential habitat to fuel needs impelled me to create these works out of charcoal, a cheaply priced art material.

Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint.

40" x 60"

The entire “Series in Red” alludes to the fact that life is interdependent, i.e. when we destroy habitat, we destroy the biodiversity it sustains, and vice versa.

Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint.

40" x 60"

We either keep systems intact or we stand to lose all that is beautiful and irreplaceable in our world.

Cat in Focus series.

Multimedia work.

36" x 48"

Agile, silent, luxuriant, with sun-like magnanimity, they sift stealthily through grass and jungle as fierce survivors, impregnated with a sovereign purpose.

Big cats are ambush artists with observant eyes that change from regal indifference, to predatory focus with the setting sun.

Cat in Focus series.

48" x 36"

Multimedia work.

The motif that will be reiterated to create the silhouette utterance of each big cat, will be the eye, particularly an illustrated human eye, recolored to emulate a cat’s eye, because research dictates that humans relate more intuitively with an eye that emulates the proportions of a human eye.

Cat in Focus series.

Multimedia work.

36" x 48"

Cat in Focus, engages the viewers initially with a pair of forward facing, amber eyes, forcing aesthetic focus on to the most expressive and arresting aspect of the feline form, the cat’s eyes.

This allows the viewer to take stock of the motif that serves as the building block for the larger narrative arc of the series, to bring audiences eye to eye with cats.

Cat in Focus series.

Multimedia work

36" x 48"

Why the Eye?

The eye offers a conceptual connection to the cat.

The eye represents: Awareness. Articulation. Vulnerability.

The eye receives and emits light. It looks out and looks in. It is a window to peer through, to reach the soul and the world, a symbol that is revealing and perceiving, seeing through and true. 

Cat in Focus series.

Multimedia work

36" x 48"

The eye illuminates, understands, expresses, protects, singes, and stares. We can feel truly known by the way another’s eyes take us in and experiences despair and sorrow at being “unseen.”

We often deliberate “loss of sight” or use optometric terms to describe our current paradigms of existence and modes of consumption, “myopic”  “long-sighted” “lens” “vision” “20/20” etc, this offers an obvious interpretation to the individual layouts and animated story.

Cat in Focus series.

Multimedia work.

36" x 48"

Repeating the eye as a symbolic motif, also offers a unique commentary about our lack of insight, foresight and hindsight, because we don’t look to our past and learn from our mistakes, and we don’t account for the future in the choices we make today. We simply do not see, despite the overwhelming realities we are enveloped by. It is evident that we need to open our eyes and take a hard look at our colossal blind spots.

Ethologists and primatologists have also coined the "cooperative eye hypothesis" which is at the crux of why these big cats are so easy and compelling to stare at. Scientists have posited,  that "human eyes evolved to make it easier for conspecifics to follow an individual’s gaze direction in close-range joint attentional and communicative interactions, which would seem to imply especially cooperative (mututalistic) conspecifics."

Multimedia composition. Oil and vinegar on canvas with cloth and photographic overlays.

36" x 48

Every species is intrinsically and effortlessly part of the fabric of the larger ecosystem. The composition relies on transparencies to establish the integral role played by lions in managing the Savanna expanse. 

Mixed media, Acrylic, wax, ink, pencils, paper, photographs.

24" x 36"

I pitched my first tent in front of the Barafu Kopjes. It was a great evening, sundowners below a lilac sunset, baked squash under the stars, and shortly after, bedtime. With a tent to myself, I felt insignificant, yet invigorated as I dozed off. Later that night I woke up with a start, assailed by anxiety, my core temperature steadily rising. I immediately reached for my cell phone. Time check? 1: 34 a.m. I felt my skin burn up, as my pores began to sweat. Fever from a tick bite? All my cells were on alert, as I heard footsteps, muffled yet close. I was throbbing with fear. At first I thought it was a prank, so I checked. Rob? Tom? No answer. Then a low rumble inhaled me in. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t scream. My heart pumping hard, as I saw the shadow of a long whip like tail against the wall of my tent. My racing pulse was painting me as prey. I had to find a way to slow down my heart rate, for it became clear there was more than one lion circling my space. I reckoned, should the worst go down that I would not die riddled with fear, but pass in a state of oneness, with utter awareness of my death. I was in a tent surrounded by predators, once I accepted it, I realized all I could do was breathe, and stay on the knife’s edge between knowing and not knowing. Animals have the ability to stay in the moment, so I chose to be animal. I stayed present and all I did was breathe. It was then that I saw the lion in me and myself in a lion. We were one, which was wildly intoxicating. This artwork goads the viewer to reconsider perceived degrees of separation as degrees of connection, between man, beast and the earth from whence we all emerged.

Watercolor on Canvas.

Only available as prints, original sold.

18" x 36"

Speaks to the camouflage of great cats, for the bleed into their surroundings despite having such distinctive markings on their body. 

Mixed media, collage, pencils, gauche and acrylic.

36" x 48"

Sold. No reproductions.

Trapping is a prevalent issue in the state of Wyoming. An organization by the name of Wyoming Untrapped commissioned me to create this painting, to cast a light on what Wyoming would look like if it's wildlife was not barbarically incarcerated in dated, cruel contraptions that cause an unfortunate amount of stress and blood loss in the victims it claims.

Mixed Media, collage and paint.

40" x 60"

Last year I got the chanceto free dive with Whale Sharks, off the coast of Isla Holbox and Isla Mujeres. It was an utterly unforgettable experience, so you can imagine my horror when I discovered these filter feeders were being slaughtered in large numbers to cater an insatiable Asian market demand for their fins and for oil. It is incredibly tragic how much magic we annihilate in the world around us, preventing future generations from ever experiencing such wondrous wild encounters.

Mixed media, collage, paints, inks, and marine debris.

40" x 60"

Fallen Night Sky portrays a whale shark suspended by the solitude and silence of the abyss. Against the pitch it's distinct markings recreate the dark canvas pricked by pinholes of light that we scour, nightly, for the meaning of life. All the answers we seek in the expansive cosmos of creation is available in the microcosm we fondly refer to as the pale blue dot. The truths of the infinite universe lies hidden right beneath the shifting surface of the undulating blue. This gentle giant is a swirling cluster of star stories, if only we would take the time to listen...

Mixed media: Paint and collage.

40" x 60"

The giant, demure Rhincodon Typus is a filter feeder and they mean us no harm, yet we slay these magnificent large fish for their fins and we pollute their habitat to such an appalling degree with our daily choices that they spend their hours sieving more plastic than zooplankton out of the blue. We need to put a price on life and ban the bounty on death! Life should be worth more than death, yet this is not the case, extinction has gotten to be such an implicit part of our schematic that we fuel our lives with death in the form of fossil fuels. We need to reformat our thinking and reboot our systems so we are more functional the second time around.

Mixed media, collage and paint

36" x 48"

Hammerhead migration at COCOs island, interrupted by human impact.

Mixed media

16" x 20"

A Manta Moment abstracts the complex musculature of a exquisitely engineered creature of the deep, in a moment of wild abandonment. The image captures the drape of this enigmatic being as it gently glides with its large wings stretched expansively, as if to emulate the dimensions of the blue ocean itself.

Mixed Media, gauche, crayon and ink.

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

20" x 30"

The Giant Australian Cuttlefish in specific is the most extraordinary cephalopod to encounter, its alien countenance and inimitable ability to mimic and blend in to its immediate environment is just the most mind blowing thing to witness whether on video or in person. The loss of this species will not only cause a massive hiatus in the ecology of Australian waters but also be a painful loss of beauty in this world that cannot be reproduced by even the most technologically adept artists. We should do everything in our power to raise the alarms and conserve this magnificent species.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

This collection of mixed media artworks will contemplate themes of nature in relation to the unlived tomorrows of future generations, by contextualizing environmental conditions as inheritable assets being handed down family trees.
 

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

“Shadowed Heirlooms” intends to initiate awareness on the environmental evils endured by untamed Africa through conceptual, wildlife-centric collage canvases.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

Asher Jay’s recent visit to the feral frontiers of the Dark Continent moves her to shed light on the myriad issues confronting Kenya and Tanzania’s Safariscapes now.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

We cannot simply feed pennies to Africa and expect the country to be able to confront and resolve human-wildlife conflict. The blades of grass in this image are photographs of pennies to underscore this obvious message.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

As infrastructure growth encroaches from every side into National Parks and protected areas, animals are getting fenced in from all sides, compelling us to reconsider the idea of wilderness in the Age of Man.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

“From lax regulations, inconsistent waste disposal methods, climatic change, habitat destruction, absence of trash segregation and recycling (all garbage is disposed off in make-shift landfills), to the lack of viable solutions, alternatives, government incentives, rigid laws and funds that can execute feasible plan Bs, African wildlife are facing more threats than tourists.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

16" x 20"

At the heart of the problem are arrogant, ignorant visitors, reckless poachers, and apathetic tour guides, all of whom simply do not consider the long haul in their daily arithmetic.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

18" x 36"

The savannah is so expansive it spreads from sunrise to sunset; are we willing to extinguish all the life that thrives between the horizons?”

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

18" x 36"

Inspired by Lake Natron in Tanzania and Lake Nakuru in Kenya, where amidst the brilliant vermillion flocks there is still plastic litter afloat.

Mixed Media Collage

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

18" x 36"

In the fleeting moments that wild beings are given to relate to the earth does the sun even have time enough to help them cast a shadow? Or do we drive these creatures to extinction even before they get to make an imprint?

Mixed Media Collage with fabric scraps from fashion waste.

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

18" x 36"

Bare White North, polar bears made out of waste fabric (Seventh Avenue Surplus), percentage of sales to go toward climate change related concerns. Inspired by a photograph.

Mixed Media Collage made with fabric scraps from Fashion waste.

Shadowed Heirlooms Series.

18" x 36"

Human carbon emissions place their future on thin ice.