A long time ago, I went to art school. And then I graduated. And then I went to San Francisco, where I worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, interface designer, and later evolved into a software engineer. Eventually, I became interested in AI, and I worked in that field for about ten years before being laid off.

One of the interesting things about being free is that sometimes it takes a while for you to realize it. Like the caged bird who has become so used to living in the cage, when the door is left open, it just sits there. The bird can’t imagine another way of life. So in a way it has been with me. When I was laid off in 2024, I immediately began working on my own projects, which in many ways looked exactly like the projects I was working on during my job - business applications built on top of AI systems. After pursuing this for about a year and a half, I started to realize I was constraining my thinking about what I was capable of doing to those things that I had been asked to do during my job. As if this was the only thing the world would ever want of me, or the only thing I would ever want to do. With so much time on my hands, and the freedom to do anything, I have slowly been returning to my roots. Like a crumpled material that has been stuffed into a box for decades, I feel like I am returning to some kind of shape that is more my own, rather than what someone else needs of me.

It is an awkward process, rediscovering yourself. I am calling it “decrumplification”. The thing is, I can’t use other people as my guide. The things that animate me are unique. This is both a wonderful thing and quite confusing, as there is no roadmap. Literally anything that I feel compelled to do is authentic. And other people might not be interested or understand. And that’s OK. I know I am on the right track when I don’t really care if anyone else is moved by what I produce, as long as I get some joy out of it.

In an age when AI and automation is consuming our entire digital life, I feel it is more important than ever for each of us to decrumplify. For me, working in the worlds of painting, sculpture, music, and anything in the physical world is the perfect place for this. But for you, perhaps it is something else.

So, I am starting off now at my roots, with some drawing and painting. It will likely evolve far beyond these mediums. I don’t have an agenda other than to make those things that no one else asked me to make.