Dark Star is a deeply personal piece — one of the few works I’ve created specifically for someone else. It was made for a longtime mentor and friend who has been incredibly generous with me, both in support and spirit. I hold this person in the highest regard, and while the piece currently hangs in my home, it will soon take its place where it truly belongs.

Built with approximately 10,000 LEGO tiles — many of them custom spray-painted — the portrait is mounted on a ½-inch plywood panel and framed in a thin metal edge. I began the work in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and completed it in Scottsdale, Arizona, finishing in 2024.

The title Dark Star of Jerry Garcia is a nod to the mythic, improvisational energy Jerry embodied — a guiding light in the psychedelic expanse of music and meaning. Though rendered in grayscale, the piece contains a quiet vibrancy, subtle shifts in tone that invite you to look closer, just as Garcia’s music reveals deeper layers the longer you listen.

Now part of the Hannay Collection, this work reflects gratitude, reverence, and the personal connections that continue to shape my art.