About the Exhibition
My solo exhibition, Smoke on the Water, inaugurated TreePeople’s new visual art and environmental programming at the Schuman Family Foundation Conference Center in Beverly Hills.
This new body of work features large-scale gouache paintings on paper that explore wildfire as a force of beauty, grief, and ecological tension. Drawing from my experience growing up in fire-prone Benedict Canyon, I reflect on what it means to live with fire—not only as a physical threat, but as a memory, a rhythm, and an evolving part of life in California.
Each piece is built through a slow layering process using gouache, where translucent washes and dense details accumulate to create a kind of atmospheric residue. The work balances the seductive pull of color and light with the devastation at its core—inviting viewers to hold complexity, to see the sublime within destruction.
This show launched TreePeople’s new visual art and environmental programming, and I’m honored to be the first artist to exhibit in this stunning space. As a native Angeleno, these pastel paintings reflect my lived experience with fire and climate grief—and what it means to find the sublime within destruction.
Donations:
40% of all artwork sales were donated to TreePeople’s Wildfire Resilience Fund, supporting vital reforestation and fire recovery efforts across Southern California.
Purchase Inquiries:
Contact me at artistmdmcreations@gmail.com. A full pricing list is available here.