Studio Notes

Sometimes collectors find the work before the gallery does.

There's an old belief that collectors find the artwork they're meant to live with.

I'm not sure I believe that.

But every now and then, something happens that makes me wonder.

A friend owns a gallery in Mexico. On this particular day, the gallery wasn't open. There wasn't an exhibition. In fact, the painting wasn't even on display.

It was leaning behind other works.

A couple happened to stop by and knocked on the door.

They weren't there for this painting.

They weren't there for any painting.

They simply asked if they could come in and look around.

As they walked through the space, something caught their attention.

Not a painting hanging proudly on the wall.

Not the centerpiece of the room.

A corner.

A glimpse of color hidden behind the others.

They asked if it could be uncovered.

Once it was standing on its own, they looked at each other.

"We'll take it."

Only afterward did they ask the price.

As artists, we spend a lot of time thinking about placement.

The right exhibition.

The right gallery.

The right wall.

That afternoon reminded me that sometimes a painting doesn't need any of those things.

Sometimes it simply waits for the right eyes.

The painting was Elixir of Muse.

It now belongs to a private collection.

I still think about that day.

Not because the work sold.

Because it reminded me that art has a strange way of finding its own path.

Sometimes, hidden behind other paintings.

Elixir of Muse explores the tension between attraction, temptation, and the conversations we have with ourselves about desire and consequence.

Explore current works from the studio.