Art was my only rehabilitation after a severe upper body injury. It became my freedom of movement, healing, and self-expression.
You decide who will appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display their work at The Art of Elysium's Salon!
My work is vortex-style abstract painting. I don’t approach it in an intellectual or planned way. It comes from my animal instinct—an immediate, embodied response that happens before analysis, before language, before control, in fragments of a moment, nanoseconds before thought forms. That first brushstroke holds the honesty. What follows is a record of emotional currents, not design. When I overthink, I lose that clarity. The work depends on staying close to what is real before words exist.
Where do you find inspiration?I have learned to be my own source of inspiration. I suffered a complex elbow injury 2 years ago.. I fell on lava rocks and heard my bones break. I have had two surgeries on my right arm and still have two more ahead. Art became my medicine and rehabilitation. Through pain I discovered strength I didn’t know I had. I painted on plywood, glass, doors, walls, using donated paints and brushes. Painting carried me forward and helped me regain 70% function in my right arm and hand.
What would you do with $25,000?If I won $25,000, I’d create stability in my life. More than anything, I need room to breathe and reconnect with myself. I’d buy art supplies and keep painting because art carried me through hard times. I would also donate directly to people who are struggling in my neighborhood. I also have a dream of creating a safe place for young adults—those defiant, lost, high-strung, rule-breaking, hard-lived young humans who need kindness and acceptance.
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