Lunch at Il Pastaio

2021

Acrylic, Mixed Media, Oil, Spray Paint, Krink Pen on canvas 

40 x 40 

$5000

Acrylic on canvas, truffle-scented memory baked into every stroke This piece is more than just a meal-it’s a premonition.

At first glance, it’s a group of successful, world-renowned artists seated at a long white table, drowning in wine and laughter, locked in their own glamorous world. It’s iconic, cinematic, absurdly LA-the kind of scene people fantasize about when they dream of “making it.” 

But look closer, and you realize: this isn’t a painting of them. This is a painting of me, sitting just outside the frame. And based on a true story. Quiet. Watching. Not envious. Not bitter. Just… burning with vision. 

It says:

“You may not remember me now-but one day, I’ll be the one sitting at the center of this table.”

And that’s what makes this piece powerful. It’s painted not from a place of lack, but from absolute certainty. The outsider perspective is just temporary. That loneliness at the table? It’s not sadness. It’s focus. It’s the artist waiting for the world to catch up.

The blue background feels Mediterranean and heavenly—an ode to Il Pastaio, yes-but also symbolic. Blue skies. Blue moods. A little divine loneliness. And the scratched-out text at the top gives it the feeling of being half-remembered, half-erased-just like how fame works: everyone forgets the beginning.