Oil on Panel, 2026
An androgynous figure emerges from a cluster of flame-shaped agave leaves, hands clasped in prayer. Above them, a chimeric creature descends: a heart-shaped cactus, with bat wings and a single piercing eye. The painting was inspired by two common scenes in religious art: depictions of the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles of Christ, and the Anima Sola, which is a votive figure of a penitent soul surrounded by tongues of flame. In my art I like to mingle traditional scenes from the tradition of religious art with unexpected, mysterious elements, grounded in the native landscape from my home in South and Central Texas. Is the strange spirit or harbinger descending upon the figure holy?