About

DSM ART is my studio practice focused on original one of one mixed media works on canvas. The work is intuitive and process driven. I combine drawing, painting, language, and symbol to explore internal experiences that are often difficult to explain directly.

Creativity has always been part of my life. Writing was my first outlet. I began writing poetry and memoir at a young age, and teachers encouraged me because of my sensitivity to language and emotional detail. Over time, that relationship with words became visual, shifting from the page into form, gesture, and mark.

During high school, I trained competitively in tennis and moved between several academies. That experience continues to shape how I work. Repetition, discipline, and physical awareness play a central role in my process. Years of training developed strong hand eye coordination and perceptiveness, which naturally translated into mark making and composition.

I returned to visual art during a period of emotional and mental struggle. I was dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, and the loss of a close friend. Painting became a way to externalize thoughts that felt overwhelming. It offered a place to put things when language was no longer enough. What began as a coping mechanism gradually developed into a consistent studio practice.

The work is intentionally raw and honest. I care less about surface polish and more about communicating something emotionally and psychologically real. Marks are left exposed and revisions remain visible. I am not interested in cleaning the work if it removes the truth of the moment. The process carries equal weight to the final image.

Much of the work engages the subconscious and the tension between the inner child and adult reality. Parent child dynamics, memory, and emotional imprinting appear through repetition and fragmentation. I also experiment with phonetics and language, developing my own words and symbols. Over time, this has become a personal lexicon and visual mythos shaped by instinct, trauma, and lived experience.

Alongside personal themes, the work connects to broader questions around mental health, gender roles, power structures, and contemporary political tension. These ideas are embedded rather than stated directly, emerging through coded imagery and disruption. Spiritual inquiry and ancestral awareness also influence the work, particularly my Norwegian heritage, which informs ideas of lineage, instinct, and identity.

I live and work in Santa Barbara, California, and maintain a private studio practice in my apartment. All works are created, documented, and prepared for shipment directly from the studio. Each piece is original and unreproduced.