After a career as an architecture and planning consultant, I started painting full time in 2012. I painted landscapes and cityscapes for a few years, until 2015 when I began shifting to mostly figurative work, as a way to convey more directly through my art, themes that are meaningful to me, including racial discrimination and social justice. 

 

My inspiration is my own personal and family history. My recent paintings focus on the Asian-American experience, something I call "(In)Visible." My initial motivation was simple: I wanted to show Asian faces in paintings. Inspired by contemporary painters and especially African-American painters who depict every day people as proud and dignified, I want to tell the story of Asian-Americans who experienced profound discrimination, worked hard in tough occupations, and suffered numerous indignities for the sake of their children.

 

Similarly, my "Essential" paintings portray today’s front-line and behind the scenes workers, those doing the risky and often thankless jobs that have gotten us through the pandemic: fast food restaurants, fulfillment centers, and other low-wage occupations. They are also deserving of dignity and respect.