Artist's Statement

In the Judeo-Christian worldview, there are believed to be seven archangels. Their venerable existence bears some resemblance to the mythos surrounding divine beings in other religious traditions and cultures. While three of the archangels out of the seven are canon to my Roman Catholic faith, I took it upon myself to draw upon poetic license to pick four more from a myriad roster of angelic creatures taken from other religious traditions in order to create a new mythic narrative. SEPTARK is a series on the seven archangels: Chamuel, Raphael, Jophiel, Michael, Uriel, Zadkiel, and Gabriel. The goal of this project is to artistically embody these seven archangels with certain attributes denoting moral virtues while enveloping them in earthly and ethereal elements. 

Creating these pieces began with photographs by which the best of each model from my social circle was then selected for preliminary digital manipulation to achieve what I desired visually. These models include family members – my wife, brothers, cousin, aunt – my advisor, and me. With Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as my digital canvas, I utilized a drawing tablet to create these otherworldly figures while continually reflecting on their nature and role. My work attempts to take on artistic influences ranging from the eccentricity of Japanese anime and manga; the grace of Chinese Wuxia cinema, and the dynamism of the current comic book and video-game culture. 

In SEPTARK, I aimed to synthesize the divine imagery of angels with modern-day entertainment culture while still maintaining its mysterious stature. In a world that is abundantly conscious and cautious about diversity, I chose to present it this way not only as a person of faith, but also as one with a diverse multicultural background and artistic sensibility. With every composition, I strived faithfully and intentionally, in my humble way, to honor the art form practiced by previous masters, but on a digital platform.

Art Exhibition