After a few years of failed attempts to find a college suited for me, I started at the University of Tulsa, studying Studio Arts and Art History. I studied under the talented artist Mark Lewis for my duration at university.

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From the start, it was my goal to create work that depicted subjects that were considered "ugly" to the contractual eye. Conventional beauty seemed to hold little to no interest to me. Perhaps to make my mark, I had the philosophy "the more disturbing, the better". I absolutely loved painting these characters. Once of the surprising inspirations was the television show "Tim & Eric". The avant-garde stupidity of their humor was almost genius to me.

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And of course, the work of Jenny Saville entered my world. Her work was honest, grotesque and brave. Her brushstrokes are emulated in my paintings until this day. Her color palette is rich, her forms fleshy, and her subjects seem to live in a world of punk culture. Subsequently, I was also inspired by the work of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Egon Schiele.