SEL Goes Deep On Sonic
Music has been a constant force in my life, the undercurrent running through every high and low, every shift and transformation. Some of my earliest memories are of bringing home a new album, sitting on my bedroom floor, and letting it play from start to finish while I studied every detail of the LP sleeve. The music was powerful, but so was the artwork. I was mesmerized by the surreal, otherworldly landscapes painted by Roger Dean for the Prog Rock band Yes. Those covers weren’t just packaging, they were portals. They showed me that sound could have a visual language.
Entering High School, my world expanded into Hip-Hop and Punk Rock. It was the 80’s and with those sounds came graffiti, DIY culture, and the raw visual energy of artists like Shawn Kerri, Ric Clayton (RxCx), and Pushead. The lines were aggressive, imperfect, alive. Music wasn’t just something to listen to anymore it was something to embody. It shaped how I dressed, how I moved, how I saw the world. It taught me that art could be rebellious, expressive, and unapologetically personal.
Through the ‘90s and early 2000s, I became part of the LA music scene, playing Bass in alternative rock bands, performing in local clubs, and touring across the United States. Music wasn’t just inspiration it was my life. By day, I supported myself as a graphic designer creating CD packaging and band merchandise. By night, I was on stage. That dual existence of visual artist and musician deepened my understanding of how sound and image feed each other.
Eventually, I stepped away from performing to focus fully on my visual art career. But music never left. It remained my companion in the studio fueling long nights, steadying me during uncertainty, lifting me when I felt stuck. It continues to be both refuge and ignition.
When I was first invited to reinterpret iconic rock photography for the original SONIC exhibit, it felt like everything had come full circle. I wasn’t just creating these designs of musicians I was honoring a lifelong relationship with the sounds that shaped me. With SONIC 2.0: Noise & Vision, that conversation deepens and expands.
Working with the powerful photographs of Jeffrey Mayer, Drew Carolan, Richard Abagon, and others, the creative vision flowed naturally. The collection spans genres as eclectic as my own playlist, and each piece was created while immersed in the artist’s music allowing their sound, energy, and presence to guide my creative vision.
In this series, I’ve blended the visual languages I developed over decades, taking punk rawness, graffiti energy, and graphic art techniques to create my interpretations of the bands that shaped me. These works are more than portraits. They are translations, sound made visible.
Music has always been there for me and this exhibition is my way of being there for it.
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New SONIC Works DROP 3.28.26