Each of my artworks begins on the square in front of my apartment, where I deliberately break a piece of glass. The randomness of the breakage—the chaotic pattern of shards—forms the starting point of the creative process. By repeatedly shuffling the shards, different compositions emerge. I take a photograph of each composition. From this photograph, I extract multiple compartments, each of which ultimately becomes a work of art.

Broken glass is also a metaphor for my life. The pain and damage that shards can inflict on you. It refers to the car accident that left me completely paralyzed over 30 years ago, except for a single function in my left arm. The intense nerve pain that feels like shards of glass cutting into your skin. My lifelong battle with drug addiction began even before the car accident. But afterward, it also became a means to numb that physical and mental pain. I eventually got clean with the help of Narcotics Anonymous (NA).

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But also the beautiful colors that arise when light shines through glass. Sunlight, or white light, is actually a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow. When light strikes a glass surface, it changes direction (refracts). This refraction is different for each color because each color has a different wavelength. Colors like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet come to life! To stay with the metaphor, it reflex the beauty of life! It is what keeps me going!