In 2007, I began a series called "Heart of the City" to communicate the experiences I had in different metropolises across the world.  In many cities, both domestic and international, I could feel the presence of its cosmopolitan aspects at every street corner---from advertisements to the actual people that formed the fabric of the immediate world around me. 

Beautiful people often mixed with beautiful urban landscapes in cities such as Miami, New York, or Paris.  But beneath this beauty runs a current as strong as the electricity in the neon lights of Las Vegas.  There is a “beast,” a struggle to survive and thrive among the masses by any means necessary.  The stimuli of a metropolis can often swallow people and their dreams whole. 

For the “Heart of the City” series, each painting is completed separately and then divided into pieces upon completion.  The final images are produced once the individual pieces of two paintings are “puzzled” together.  The paintings “Beast” and “Beauty” make up “Heart of the City,” the first piece in the series.  The paintings “City” and “Heart” make up “She ROARS,” the second piece in the series.