Carolina BBQ

Gold Key, Painting, Scholastic Art and Writing 2024
2nd Place, 2024 Congressional Art Competition (NC-04), hanging in Rep. Foushee’s DC office
High Merit, Painting, Celebrating Art Fall 2023

Oil on canvas, 18″x24″, 2023

Carolina dads are always arduous in their skills on the grill. The most vivid memories of my childhood are the savory smells of BBQ and the hour-long lines in front of each small business stall at the NC State Fair. In the past few years, while small businesses have faced dark times, BBQ has stayed strong. The Tar Heels stubbornly believe that with the secret of smoking white oak, Carolina BBQ is and will forever be the best BBQ in the world. 

In a Russian realism style, my painting uses cold colors for the setting to emphasize the warm colors of the BBQ on the grill, bringing the BBQ’s tangy smells and heartwarming emotions to life— a testament to the American spirit of staying optimistic and never giving up, regardless of the difficulties that may lie ahead.

Small Businesses in My Hometown

Silver Key, Illustration, Scholastic Art and Writing 2023
1st Place, 2023 Congressional Art Competition (NC-04), on exhibition at the US Capitol

Ink on paper, 18″x24″, 2023

Since the pandemic started, I’ve always paid attention to my hometown’s small businesses. Some of my favorite small businesses closed because of the pandemic, worsened by the rising costs of inflation. These businesses are places of my childhood, where I grew up in, ate at, and are forever memorialized in my heart. In my artwork, “Small Businesses in My Hometown,” I illustrated 88 storefronts from my memories to commemorate the past, celebrate the present, and welcome the incoming small businesses.