Location: Los Angeles neighborhood that borders Thai Town, Little Armenia and Koreatown, with Guatemalan and Salvadoran bakeries nearby. The world at my doorstep. Everyday, I see hand-painted signs in languages I can't understand which, for some reason, I find comforting.
Duration: I started out as a designer thirteen years ago, but began to hone my skills as an illustrator in 2000.
Staff: One.
Education: BFA from UCLA and ongoing...
Cultural Influences: I am constantly scavenging visual culture, past and present, for new ways of communicating about the world. Japanese woodblock prints, Indian textiles, Persian miniatures, Shaker Trance drawings, my Hungarian grandfather's art books and my great-aunt's embroidery...are all part of the mix. I am drawn to work that comes from other places in other times, as well as to the work of contemporary artists. I draw on books, magazines, galleries, films, dance and travel for inspiration. I wonder what it would be like to spend a day with someone else's eyes. Would they see the world as I do?
Environment: I work out of a studio garage that's filled with books, art supplies, music, a cat who leaves prints on the artwork and my delightful son who thinks it's a basketball court.
Philosophy: Do the work you want to get. Stay inspired. On staying fresh, I like this quote from James Baldwin: "The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by answers." I try to unravel what I think I know, to glimpse the enviable place children occupy, the important state of not-knowingness. It's then that seeing begins.