Midnightscreeningart

"leaving las vegas (attempted)"
magazine cut outs, 2026

the piece says "attempted" bc i really would like to make more art about the film "leaving las vegas" due to how personal it feels to me. but it is also very difficult to approach. it was a movie that was recommended to me by my ex after he saw it and said that he really saw himself in nicolas cage's character, ben. i have only ever seen it twice and i cried the entire way through both times bc it all felt so familiar. i have also read the book, which was extremely difficult for me to get through despite reading it over the course of a few days. many people find this piece funny, but a part of me feels sad when I witness those reactions bc I made this piece when I was sad. (and it's not a bad thing if it makes you laugh, it just wasn't my intention when I was making it!) then again, I often use humor to mask bad experiences or as a way to cope with them. in any case if you haven't seen the film I highly recommend it, despite it being so upsetting. I can also say that cage's performance in "leaving las vegas" is very real, he's not overacting. i hope one day to explore this film through art more bc it's hard such a deep effect on me. for now, i have this.

"light travels"
magazine cut outs, 2026

i meant to post this on my birthday two days ago and forgot. i feel like i go back and forth about my birthday a lot. i want to make a big deal about it bc that's what your supposed to do, right? but whenever I get any sort of attention, i tend to shrink inwards bc i have no idea how I'm supposed to react to it. i frequently feel like an imposter, or inadequate and guilty, so any sort of praise makes me uncomfortable. im never sure if it's truly deserved or earned. anyway, my birthday this year was equal amounts of stressful and okay. i spent half of it running around denver, doing last minute errands for an art market, cleaning my apartment. the other half watching Dredd, Mortal Kombat videos, and seeing my best friend who flew all the way from El Paso to visit (wowee!). the day before I got my first stripe in jiujitsu. had a pretty successful day at a pride market yesterday (minus a couple sunburns). pretty good overall I think, and much better than other years in the past. this piece is about the passage of time, how you and your circumstances change, and how things usually get better after they seem to get worse. one day my anxiety will realize that and let me relax, one day.

"the visitors"
magazine cutouts, 2026

i think the song really captures the stress i hoped to create with this piece. there's a bit of symbolism going on here for me. the whiskey is from a advertisement, something that I usually associate with good things bc it's related to . but here I'm trying to convey the stress I associated with alcohol when I was living with the person behind the stress. the flip phone makes me think of how quickly a nice phone call would "flip" and eventually turn into them yelling at me over the phone or bombarding me with calls at work, home, and on vacation. from an era where there was some privacy to a situation where i had none. the bat really just bills down to fear and how random things feel like weapons now bc of memories I with them. but I'm working on creating new associations, little by little. if you're reading these, thanks for taking the time to do so.

"a real indication"
magazine cutouts, 2026

moving on to artwork i created for "dominion" a show hosted by that featured work by members. thank you all for hosting us.

the following work is my interpretation of the shows theme which focused on mankind's relationship with nature, people, and living creatures. how we can choose to coexist and nurture one another; or we can choose to exert dominance and instill fear in one another. i chose to use this particular theme as a way to create artwork that could help me navigate things/trauma i experienced while being in an abusive relationship. some of which has been resurfacing as I have been trying to visit certain places, watch specific media, rediscover my true self, etc. on my own terms after ~2 years of being free from it all. not sure if that makes sense or how much detail I'll go into the meaning of these works. if there's any intrigue, feel free to comment. these are older pieces from the start of the year. enjoy.