Unplugged Collection

 

I have spent years writing code for a living. Building systems and solving problems in the language of logic, that the world rewarded and I was good at. But somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, I stopped being able to hear myself think.

Painting was how I found my way back to myself.

 

I started with landscapes in 2018 because nature was the furthest thing from a screen I could find. Forests, light through trees, the texture of the earth. I would sit with a canvas the way I used to sit with a difficult problem at work - patiently, attentively, without forcing it. Some days it came easily. Other days I would stare at the surface for an hour and leave with nothing. But I kept returning to it.

And then, without deciding to, I started bringing the code with me on my art journey just out of habit.

Thus, the Unplugged series began in 2024.

 

I started imagining a mystery world filled with trees, that would reveal to you, your deepest desires and thoughts when you visit it but in an encrypted form. A world where you have to accept and sit with yourself and your thoughts that only you can decipher. In order to hide the feelings, I decided to write it down in numbers in binary. I began embedding these into the paintings like commands hidden inside brushwork, just beneath the surface of things that looked natural. Words you could not see unless you knew where to look. Messages and reminders I was writing to myself or about the things I needed to hear that I did not yet know how to say out loud.

 

Unplugged is a collection about those unsaid things.

It merges the organic nature with the structure and logic of binary code. The binary code translates to a particular feeling or thought that I think deserved attention at the time. Phrases like “am i what i love?” are translated into ones and zeros, concealed within the moody skies and mysterious fog. These coded elements act as a way to reveal my “true” thoughts hiding behind the composure, asking – who are you when no one’s watching?

 

Each painting in this series holds a different message. You have to lean in and get curious. You have to be willing to look at something familiar and ask whether there is more to it than you first assumed. When you step back from the commands, the systems around you and the language of certainty and make room for something slower, layered, something that asks more of you than a screen or a painting ever will, that’s where you find yourself. These paintings are that room. Come inside and look closely.