The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting From Museo de Arte de Ponce
Exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
February 1st – May 24th, 2026
The Crocker Art Museum in midtown Sacramento is an oasis amid the hustle and bustle of the city, offering a culturally rich, meditative space. Built in 1871, the Crocker is the oldest museum in the Western United States, and it boasts a collection that encompasses California, American, and European art.
The past five years have been an extraordinary period of growth. During that time, the vision I’ve carried for the past four decades finally became a reality: I embraced an aesthetic that has enthralled me for years and began incorporating ideas and concerns into my work that I had previously been unable to fully express.
Forty years ago, I was standing in the small bedroom I occupied in my parents’ home in Fresno, packing my things and getting ready to move to San Francisco to start classes at the Academy of Art College.
Building a vision is a lifetime’s work. That vision begins with an internal revelation; you see something, and it changes your life forever. Over time, often years, and in some cases decades, the vision comes to fruition piece by piece. Eventually, you reach the threshold toward which the previous years have been leading. There’s no turning back. Now the vision must enter the world on its own terms.
The creation of a new piece of work unfolds in ways most people never imagine. It’s nonlinear, unpredictable, and refuses to adhere to routine. This isn’t a recipe for paella, it’s the act of conjuring something from nothing.
My work is defiance on paper. I am not here to chase trends or court popularity—I am here to be myself. And being yourself means going against expectations. Declaring self-autonomy always comes with a generous cup of take it or leave it.
Forty years ago, I stood on the edge of the most significant chapter of my young life—preparing to move to Los Angeles to attend Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. I was nineteen—naïve, brimming with piss and vinegar—and hell-bent on getting into Parsons’ exchange program so I could study at the American College in Paris.
I had no idea I was stepping onto a forty-year path when I bought my copy of the illustration monograph The Studio at sixteen. That oversized tome felt like a sign on the road. While I admired all four of the artists featured, it was Barry Windsor-Smith’s Pre-Raphaelite-inspired work that caught my eye.
In the summer of 2022, I experienced a fundamental change. Reading The Radical Vision of Edward Burne-Jones finally gave me the clarity and purpose I had been searching for.