1. What was the main idea, theme, or story behind this piece?

There's not so much of a proper main idea or deeper theming present in these pieces, rather a vague implication of one, or simply, they're meant to convey a specific aesthetic and atmosphere. Really, it's a matter of capturing a scene or collection of artifacts, imagery, and symbols that's meant to encompass something a broader theme.

2. What is your creative process? (How do you go about creating?) 

My creation process for "Morning Doe" involved taking an analog collage approach through means of collecting cheap magazines and finding bits and pieces amongst those magazines in order to create the final piece. I initially wanted the piece to be a lot "busier" in terms of there being a higher amount of elements on display as opposed the backdrop, deer, and the flowers sticking out of the deer's antlers, but I eventually opposed that idea after seeing the effectiveness in the few subjects present in the piece. After having finished making the collage, I went scanned it with a printer and tweaked its brightness, contrast, and saturation values to my liking. In contrast to "Morning Doe", my piece "Aztec Endtimes" was done entirely through digital means. I scoured through the web looking for Aztec artifacts, specifically images that were published online prior to the mid-2010s in the hopes of finding more "dated" and "lower quality" photos, which doesn't really show up in the final image, but it's something I do regardless as a means to limit myself and perhaps find other interesting images that I can use for other creative works. Through a rigorous process of image manipulation, artifacting, and layering, I was able to come through with the final piece, though not before sharpening and "jpeg-ifying" the image to give it a crustier, blockier, lower resolution quality to it.

3. Who or what has influenced you the most as an artist? 

My main inspiration for these works is borrowed from a niche cassette-driven musical scene that was prevalent amongst the mid-2000s up until around the early 2010s. The covers for most of these tapes were often (but not always) collage-based in nature and featured prominent elements of psychedelia, nature, and surrealism. Much of the music featured on these tapes were often ambient and drone-like in nature, featuring hazy, lo-fidelity soundscapes that encapsulated much of the aesthetics present in the cover artwork for these tapes. Musicians such as James Ferraro, Spencer Clark, and Sam Mehran (who often released music under different aliases / groups as opposed to sticking to a singular artist name) served as a influence for my work, both through the imagery portrayed in their cover artworks and the musical qualities of the albums they released, which played a role towards influencing the general style of these pieces.

4. What is the significance of the title you chose? 

There isn't much significance to the titles outside of being a rough, vague description of what's being portrayed. What the viewer makes of the titles is completely up to them to interpret, or perhaps, perceive it purely for its scenic aesthetic and nothing beyond such. Any means of evaluating it are completely valid regardless of which angle one reads the titles in conjunction with the collages.

5. Is there anything more you’d like our readers/viewers to know about you or your work? 

This is my second time being featured in this undergraduate journal, having previously submitted three digital collage pieces back in 2024, with my piece "Bug Perspective" being chosen for that year's issue. While I primarily specialize in collage work (both digital and analog), I also dabble in drawing, painting, and multi-media art. While not necessarily pertaining to these two pieces, a majority of my work is influenced by music, aesthetic studies, poetic work, and an understanding of philosophical, sociological, and psychological ideas.