I paint portraits that hold marginalized histories in the present tense.
Explore My Work
Murals
Research-driven murals for cultural organizations, schools, businesses, and public spaces that connect people to the history and identity of a place.
Custom Oil Portraits
Hand-painted portraits created from photographs, family histories, and meaningful stories for homes, gifts, and memorials.
Historical Paintings
Portraits inspired by overlooked stories from Asian American history, immigration, and cultural memory.
Little Tokyo Series
Original paintings documenting the landmarks, neighborhoods, and everyday life of historic Little Tokyo in Los Angeles.
Selected Works
Fine art reproduction of my original oil painting “And Was Restrained of His Liberty” (Wong Kim Ark v. United States, 1898), from my series We Are Here Because You Were There.
Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents. After returning from a visit to China in 1895, he was denied reentry to the United States despite having been born in the country. His case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, whose 1898 decision affirmed his U.S. citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The painting is part of an ongoing body of historical portraits exploring Asian American figures whose lives intersected with immigration, citizenship, exclusion, and the law.
Print details
12 × 16 inches
Giclée fine art print
Epson Cold Press Bright 305 gsm paper
Signed by the artist
Open edition
Unframed
Printed locally in Los Angeles
Full artwork reproduced without cropping
Original painting: “And Was Restrained of His Liberty” (Wong Kim Ark v. United States, 1898), 2025. Oil on canvas, 40 × 30 inches. View the original painting →
2025
Oil on recycled cotton canvas
40 × 30 inches
Original painting, one of a kind
Unframed
Quok Shee was a Chinese immigrant who arrived in San Francisco in 1916 and was detained at Angel Island while attempting to join her husband in the United States. After more than twenty months of imprisonment and legal struggle, a federal judge ruled that immigration officials had abused their authority and withheld critical evidence, leading to her release in 1918. Her case, Chew v. White, Immigration Commissioner (1917), remains a powerful example of the barriers faced by Chinese immigrants during the era of exclusion.
This portrait is based on a mugshot from Quok Shee's immigration case file. The original photograph captures a woman enduring confinement while maintaining a remarkable sense of dignity. Her carefully arranged hair and composed expression suggest both resilience and self-possession in the face of uncertainty.
Rather than recreating the conditions of her imprisonment, I imagined Quok Shee in the redwood forests of Northern California. Surrounded by cool greens and blues, she is temporarily removed from the surveillance, confinement, and bureaucratic violence that shaped her experience. The painting offers a moment of rest and reflection—a speculative act of care for a historical figure whose story survives largely through government records.
This work is part of an ongoing series of historical portraits that recover overlooked stories from Asian American history and explore their continuing relevance to contemporary conversations about migration, citizenship, belonging, and civil rights.
Artwork Details
The recycled canvas used for this painting helps reduce textile waste and requires significantly less energy to produce than traditional cotton canvas, reflecting a commitment to more sustainable studio practices.
Suehiro Cafe, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
Fine art reproduction of my original oil painting of Suehiro Cafe, the longtime Japanese American restaurant in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo.
For more than five decades, Suehiro was part of the everyday life of the neighborhood—a gathering place for generations of residents, artists, workers, and visitors. I painted the restaurant as part of my ongoing work documenting places that hold community memory and reflect the changing landscape of Little Tokyo.
The original painting measures 6.25 × 9 inches.
Print details
• 11 × 14 inch fine art print
• Archival-quality giclée printing
• Printed on archival fine art paper
• Signed by the artist
• Open edition
• Unframed
• Printed locally in Los Angeles
The complete image is reproduced proportionally with a white border; the artwork is not cropped to fit the paper size.