My greatest interest in this landscape series is stylization. It is not only how I pick a color or stylize a form of nature, it is about interpreting the world around me, infusing into my paintings a sense of chaos, history, imaginary narratives, and mystery. I explore utopian moments in ancient East Asian master painting and use its style to represent Western scenery. I invent images that have a conflicted style and contain playful elements.

Most of the compositions juxtapose settings: graphic patterns and symbols from a South Korean temple float over California’s grand mountains and valleys. A giant pagoda from a Japanese temple is relocated to the Bay Area’s hillside.

I want this invented landscape to feel deep but shallow, ancient yet futuristic.