Being born and raised in Mexico City gave me a unique, colorful view of the world. I like to reimagine my vibrant childhood memories of Mexico City with scenes from my everyday life in Cherry Hill. I paint colorful, reinvented scenes of chaos as a way to control what I cannot.

I currently teach Art at Haddonfield Middle School in Haddonfield, NJ. I studied painting and drawing at Ramapo College and graduated from the University of the Arts with my MAT in 2005.

When people walk along a sidewalk, they might notice architecture, greenery, or storefronts. I notice these things, too, but I’m also drawn to the splotches, notches, blobs, crevasses, cracks, and stains that blanket the streets. They make me stop and take a second look. I realize that this sounds strange. Why would anyone bother to look at something that is left behind on the sidewalk? If anything, most people do anything to avoid something so unattractive, dirty, and insignificant. The truth is that their random design and their haphazard spread fascinate me. They speak to me. They are begging me to linger for a second so that they can tell me their story. 

There is a certain sadness inherent in the designs that I see left abandoned on sidewalks and walls. Indeed, I don’t notice every stain on the ground, but the ones I do notice are usually in places that have significance in my life. The subject matter varies from the sentimental to the quotidian. One of my paintings was inspired by the textures I photographed on the side of the church where my grandmother got married in Mexico City.

Another one was created from the stains on the sidewalk outside of the place where I get my coffee every day. My work is rooted in these designs and inspirations. I photograph the designs and use them as the foundation for my work. Another one was created from the stains on the sidewalk outside of the place where I get my coffee every day.