In 2015, I submitted a portfolio to a call for entries and received (eek!) a call BACK.

Wow wow. That led to an interview, which led to additional paperwork, which led to... a contract. Very exciting. And also, very scary. Very overwhelming. And I was doing all of this alongside my fulltime job in the hopes of igniting a fine art career making large scale paintings for high-end clients. At least, that was the hope. Well, the delusion.

In my mind, I was on my way to making bank with this gig, and in reality, I went bankrupt. Not really. I mean at least, not financially. but in my personal life, I had pushed away a lot of people and experiences in order to complete this work. I can’t blame that on the project, or the company that commissioned it, but my troubled reaction tarnished the full character of the memory. It left me humbled yet wary, and it was one of the last call for entries I entered.

The work, though, was exciting nonetheless. I was commissioned to create four large-scale paintings for public and private spaces of the newly built U.S. Bank Stadium, home to the Minnesota Vikings and host of Super Bowl LII in February 2018. I was also commissioned to take the largest piece, a triptych, and turn it into a 20’ x 60’ mural that would greet guests in the lobby of this behemoth building.

The paintings show bright, stylized glimpses of Vikings crowds throughout the years. The fans. Because really, what would all these sports games be without the fans? a bunch of men running around and playing with balls, essentially.