"What even is a TERF?" is an animated history of the term "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists". Taking cues from the origins of radical feminism in the 1960's and utilizing visual metaphor throughout, this film aims to educate a broad audience to the nature and danger of the TERF ideology.

I was thrilled this past year to be invited by Zackary Drucker to collaborate on her HBO docu series “The Lady and the Dale”.

As it traces the elusive life of Elizabeth Carmichael, we were presented with a unique challenge: how to portray her transition and life with little to no photo records of her before the 70’s, while also humanizing her and her experience has a trans woman. For Zackary, the answer was a DIY inspired animation aesthetic which combines what little photographs there are with original character designs, the latter of which I am responsible for in this project. Shown here are some early development color studies/explorations, as well as final production art of Elizabeth.

From HBO:

From Emmy-winning producers Mark and Jay Duplass (HBO’s Room 104) comes The Lady and the Dale, a documentary series exploring an audacious 1970s auto scam centered around a mysterious entrepreneur.

Directed by Nick Cammilleri and Zackary Drucker, the film traces the story of Elizabeth Carmichael, who rose to prominence when she released a fuel-efficient three-wheeled vehicle during the 1970s gas crisis. As she wins over major carmakers and investors, a web of mystery unfolds regarding the car’s technology and Carmichael’s surprising past. A portrait of an extraordinary entrepreneur’s rise and eventual fall, the series explores a one-of-a-kind story of fraud, family, and identity.

This project came to me during the 2020 summer uprising, at the intersection of Pride month in June.

Given the overlap with Pride month, which is in itself a recognition of the Stonewall Riots, it felt appropriate to pay homage to Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson, a trans black woman who helped lead the gay liberation movement that we observe each summer.

I was approached by the Ren Wen Noodle Factory to design and paint a mural for their flagship restaurant. Following their prompt of wanting a “graphic Normal Rockwell” and taking nods from some of my favorite “New Yorker” covers, I executed this 26’ x 5’ mural across the span of 9 days.  The color palette uses their brand yellow as a jumping off point, utilizing shades of it in combination with cool grays to help establish the space without distracting from the scene taking place before you.  Pops of red and green round out the palette, lending pops of color to the food and creating appeal.

A collection a personal illustrations made during

the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rifling through my archives, I’ve plucked out these gems from what seems to be my tendency to draw weirdo animals. All images are hand-drawn and colored using Photoshop.

Throughout my transition, I’ve drawn a lot of images. Some transcribe specific moments, like the first drawing on this page: a portrait of the first trans man who ever acknowledged me publicly. A friendly wink that made me feel seen and included - a moment so innocent and also so powerful, that I will never forget.

The latter two images are more (what I would call) emotional transcriptions - the subjects are only as specific as the period of time I was navigating some complicated feelings.

For this poster, my third in a series for the traveling show “Art Crank”, I wanted to recreate the exhilaration and freedom that I feel when riding a bicycle.  Living in Brooklyn but being from a rural area, I am often nostalgic for quieter places, and this poster fuses that with my ideal way to experience nature: via bike.  The color palette is inspired by moonlit nights in the mountains of Vermont, creating a dreamlike atmosphere to match the surreal imagery of riding with all of the woodland creatures featured. This is a limited edition 5 color screen print - 40 total, 18”x24”.

We all know it: breakups are hard.  I animated this little GIF of myself to work through the aches a pains of a recent loss.

I had a blast animating this heart beat loop for the “Rhythm” music video by Deetron (dir. Charles De Meyer).  The only parameters were that it had to be a perfect 1 second loop, allowing me to freely concept this exhausted heart.

I created this short film for a “Friday the 13th” film competition at the School of Visual Arts.  The only requirement was that it was on theme, so I took the opportunity to ponder what a day in the life of the horror film star would look like.  You know, when he’s not killing people.

This poster is the second in a series for the traveling show “Art Crank.” I wanted to recreate a scene from my solo bike ride through the Alps in southern France. The blue-green foreground and sky colors evoke the crystal clear skies and lakes of this summer landscape, while the red mountain mirrors my apprehension of the climb ahead. I chose to play on the phrase What goes up, must come down for this piece, because in cycling it also feels that the opposite is true: what goes down, must also come up. This is a limited edition 3 color screen print - 40 total, 18”x24”.

This piece is inspired by my love of Sci-Fi movies, and draws from my childhood days mimicking illustrations from X-Men comic books.  Nodding to 1950’s movie posters, I relied on yellow, green and black to treat the subject, while choosing a menacing red to contrast the laser from the astronaut, accentuating the slice it is making across the composition.

“Ode to Pappy” is a personal piece dedicated to my stepfather.  I created this single page comic for him, using my brothers adaptation of “The Beverly Hillbillies” theme song, where he affectionately pokes fun of my parents’ retirement plans to homestead in Vermont.  Inkjet print on canvas, 11” x 14”.