When you think back to the very beginning, what do you remember about the role art played in your life?

Looking back, I’ve been creating art for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would make gifts for my family because I didn’t have money to buy them. Art became my way of expressing love. It began with drawings, but that curiosity slowly led me to explore other mediums. I’ve never been someone who sticks to one thing I’m always experimenting.

Paper mache has become such a defining part of your world. What’s the story behind how that medium found you?

When my family first arrived in the U.S., in Indiana specifically, there weren’t many Mexican grocery stores, and the few that existed didn’t carry piñatas. You’d have to go all the way to Chicago. So, there were times when we made piñatas together at home. I loved the idea of creating something out of just flour, water, and paper.

You’ve mentioned you “make the sculpture in your mind” long before it exists. How does that inner process work for you?

When I get an idea, I do a kind of mental editing. I’m good at visualizing a piece before I ever touch the materials. By the time I begin a sculpture, I’ve already made it in my mind I know exactly what it will look like. I rarely sketch on paper because each sculpture is so labor-intensive, built layer by layer. It can take weeks or months before I even begin painting, so imagining it fully in my head helps me manage my time.

Your work pulls from emotion, music, conversations, and these moments that linger. How do those influences take shape in the studio?

I see myself as both a storyteller and a visual composer. Most of my inspiration doesn’t come from looking at other art it comes from nostalgic music from my mom’s youth, from conversations I overhear on the bus, from a feeling that gets stuck in my mind. I try to translate those emotions into something tangible. I return again and again to music great composers, rancheras, Juan Gabriel, even simple instrumentals. Whatever feeling the music brings out in me, I try to turn it into an object.

How does it feel to watch your work reach people through prints, collections, and especially magazines?

It surprises me how many people want prints of work that’s already sold and living in a collector’s home. There’s something powerful about a sculpture you can hold in your hand but it’s equally powerful when that feeling continues to live through a print. Seeing my work in magazines is validating too not everyone can attend one of my shows in person, and magazines allow my work to reach even more people. As a kid, I imagined being someone who would someday end up in a magazine, and now it’s happening. I wish I could tell my younger self that he was already doing all the right things.

You and your husband often make videos together. What does that collaboration add to your practice?

My husband and I love making art videos together, and the play continues in that process too. It feels like we’ve found the friend we always wished we had as children. We both grew up feeling friendless, and now it feels like we’re making up for lost time by diving into projects that bring us joy. There’s no time to slow down when you’re having so much fun.