Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

My favorite art to create is mixed media, combining abstract painting, resin, gold leaf, wax, and alcohol inks to build layered, textured works that feel both raw and refined. I love the unpredictability of resin and alcohol inks, and the tension between organic movement and deliberate mark-making. I also work in macramé, jewelry, and body art/SFX makeup, which keeps my practice expansive and material-driven. No single medium tells the whole story, the magic happens in the combination.

Where do you find inspiration?

In everything around me, travel, nature, music, and the human experience. My Slovak roots and LA life create a constant cultural tension I channel into my work. I'm drawn to exotic birds, earth elements, and the interplay of light and shadow. My background in data and analytics also shapes how I see patterns and systems, which surfaces in how I compose. Emotion get me to start a project and material experimentation takes it somewhere unexpected.

What would you do with $25,000?

Invest it directly into growing SZOK Art, upgrading my studio, expanding my material library (higher-grade resins, gold leaf, specialty pigments), and producing a cohesive body of work for a solo exhibit. I would love to explore new techniques and materials I haven't had the resources to try yet. A portion would go toward professional photography and an art advisor to place the work in gallery and real estate spaces. This grant would turn my vision into reality.