About

I find that my beginnings are quite different than most other artists I have read about. Most say that they were sketching, doodling, or painting for as long as they can remember. I can say that during my childhood I had little artistic interaction (at least in the traditional sense). Even though I created little art as a youngster, my imagination was constantly at work and I did a lot of hands on creation and exploration. My real artistic journey began when I entered college and had a basic ‘intro to digital art’ class. I really enjoyed myself and subsequently changed design to my college major and have been hard at work ever sense.

Much of my work comes from a strictly digital palette, yet maintains an underlying abstraction of the natural. A lot of times with my work I try to tackle universal environmental issues, or accentuate generalized natural beauties through simple symbols or icons.

As an artist I draw inspiration from an eclectic array of sources, but perhaps the most stirring is Sesshu Toyo. From his complete mastery of the simplification of form to his perfect control of positive and negative space, Sesshu is a true master. I was in college when I first found out about Sesshu, and since then I have spent a lot of time studying his paintings. Looking back at the work that I have done after discovering Sesshu allows me to see how much he has advertently and inadvertently influenced my style. Within my own work I try to make broader assumptions about generalized ideas using the simplest amount of actions.

I think this way of working has a distinct ‘hatsuboku’ quality about it. I know that my work does not deserve to be mentioned alongside of Sesshu Toyo, but it will always be my aspiration to strive for that level of artistic enlightenment. To describe the DesignbySolo clothing line in a word would be to call it, “Uncomplicated.” There is already so much complexity in life; therefore I try to pluck single strands from the overall web of things and “uncomplicate” them in my designs.

I hope you enjoy what you see, and thanks for listening to me ramble.