Selected Works

Twenty years of work, ordered as an argument rather than a timeline. Fighting is an appetite everyone carries, somebody always pays for where we stand with it, and refinement is the movement between the two.

Appetite

Fighting shown where nobody calls it fighting. Everyone is born with it, and most of us never look at it directly.

Fighting Sculptures

The sculptures are made of children: a block held at the point of contact, a strike stopped at full extension, bodies locked into a shape none could hold alone. I photographed what they made in 2018, then spent a year trying to get a live version in front of an audience.

Liberation from Fighting Series 02: Ink Paintings

The finished ink paintings, and the years I could not explain what I was doing. Frustration became depression, I stopped painting, and I began burning the work to be rid of an idea that seemed pointless beside the status quo.

Liberation from Fighting Series 01: Sketches

I was teaching children to fight and rewarding them for it, and I could not answer why. These sketches come from the years I spent asking what the medium of martial arts is, and finding that the answer was fighting itself.

Cost

Somebody pays for where we stand, and it is usually not the person who chose. The price was always being paid. What the work changes is who can see it.

Source Abstract

Three figures in a cube of coat-hanger wire, bound to each other with yarn. The colour starts from one figure and never wraps itself, only the others.

Kongo Rikishi: Guardians

The Wisdom Kings stand at the temple gate, one with his mouth open purging destructive energy, the other with his mouth closed keeping it out. Painting them between 2009 and 2016 is where I learned what that gate costs the person who guards it.

Refinement

Moving along the spectrum on purpose rather than being stuck anywhere on it. It cannot be done alone, and both directions carry a price.

The Leap Beyond Torii

The torii gate symbolizes the transition from the mundane to the sacred. In martial arts, the kata serves as this gate—pillars we pass through, not get stuck at. True mastery requires sincere guidance that avoids arrogance, allowing students to discover what's hidden within themselves.

Wisdom of Tataka

Tataka means fight or battle. The painting shows how fighting can motivate a martial artist, yet it is only a stepping stone. Like a musician who uses conflict to hone sound, the true art lies beyond the clash, seeking the deeper healing beyond the fight.

Gates of Tairitsu

Tairitsu, a Japanese term, signifies more than conflict—it's a collision of opposing forces. Mokuso, the silent protocol in karate, bridges calm and adversity, turning internal struggle into a medium for self‑refinement, much like a musician learns from friction and sound—a path to mastery.