How did you become an artist?

I have been making art my entire life, encouraged at a young age by my visual artist parents Polly Little and Mark Lavatelli, who are heavily involved in their local arts community. I was immersed in contemporary art growing up, and some of my earliest memories involve art openings, performances, and videos—many of which are fondly from Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. I was drawing and painting as soon as I could hold a pencil, but took a long break from it after finishing art school. It was my altruistic tendencies and critique of the art world in NY that got in the way of an appreciation for what art actually is, and what it actually does. After taking that break, I have circled back to it with a new, more mature appreciation. 

What inspires your artwork?

Intuitively I was drawn toward painting animal skulls, which started as a mere formal exercise, but inspired a profound and revelatory intellectual inquiry for me that involved a deep dive into learning about the mass extinctions, ecological overshoot and civilizational collapse. This has changed my life, inspired multiple bodies of work and as the inquiry has progressed it has continued to nurture and inform my art practice. I have been pursuing authenticity and truth relentlessly my entire life, and continue to seek these in the work.

As civilizational collapse progresses and the US fascist regime tightens its grip, I feel that activism and coming together as community are extremely important, but also that it is important not to give up things like art, creativity, and joy. Art is about the richness of our humanity and we need to embrace that now more than ever.

What is inspiring you personally these days?

I am very much inspired these days by anything pointing to the mystery of what lies beyond the materialist paradigm. I have been learning about any and all phenomena that suggests that there is something beyond consensus reality, and this has been an antidote to the despair of learning about and processing the dire effects that humans have wrought upon themselves, the future, and the community of life. This buoy of light has inspired new paintings and new paths of inquiry that balances the onslaught of doom and gloom.

The worlds of the paranormal, telepathy, occult, folk magic, near death experiences, UFOs, and other unexplained phenomena are like windows into other realities that suggest that there is more to this existence. The mysterious, unexplained parts of our existence changes the context of the multiple unfolding crises and allows the imagination to consider joyful, unconventional possibilities.

Who are some of your favorite artists?

My favorite historical visual artists include: Egon Shiele, Francis Bacon, John Singer Sargeant, and many more. 

My favorite contemporary artists are: Bianca Fields, Marlene Dumas, Cecily Brown, Wangechi Mutu, Scott Labor, Alexis Rockman and also many others.