"Soul Patch" is a collection of unique and colorful abstractions that were inspired by a rare childhood experience.*  And while this exhibition invites the viewer into a world of riotous color and visceral experience, it is simultaneously exploring the complexity of self-identity in social media.  In traditional social interactions, people generally walk away knowing certain facts about you through what they saw and what you let them see.  In today's social media interactions, what is "known" is often strategically crafted to be audacious enough to stand out amongst the vying voices, but ultimately proves to be abject concealment of human vulnerability.  This work challenges the viewer to sit with the tension of wanting to see more, wanting to know the "true colors," wanting to wipe away the course veneer that hides the true soul of another.

* On an otherwise ordinary day, a semitrailer carrying hundreds of 5-gallon paint cans lost its load on my neighborhood street. As a child, the whole scene: its array of color, sticky texture, and fragrance was beyond my wildest imagination.  When the city heard about the incident, dump trucks full of sand converged onto the block. Heralded by adult prudence to “reduce property damage,” workers heaped sand onto the larger-than-life abstract painting.  To this day, I am forever chasing the wonder of the day it “rained” paint on my neighborhood street.