How a Carotid Artery Dissection Changed My Art

In January 2026, my life changed unexpectedly.

I suffered a carotid artery dissection, a rare injury that forced me to confront something I had spent most of my life trying not to think about: mortality.

Before that experience, death was something distant. Something abstract. Something that happened to other people.

Suddenly it wasn't.

Recovery brought fear, uncertainty, and countless moments where I became painfully aware of how fragile life can be. It wasn't just a physical recovery. It was emotional too. I found myself thinking about life, loss, time, and death more than ever before.

At first, that was overwhelming.

But over time, something strange happened.

Instead of creating dark artwork about death, I started creating colourful artwork filled with pigeons, raccoons, strawberries, junk food, bones, flowers and strange little creatures.

That contrast became important to me.

My paintings are full of reminders that nothing lasts forever. Bones appear often. Decay appears often. The title of my art style, Candy Decay, literally combines sweetness and deterioration.

But the paintings themselves are rarely sad.

The animals are cute.

The colours are bright.

The food looks delicious.

The characters are often funny, awkward, or slightly ridiculous.

Why?

Because for me, processing mortality isn't about becoming obsessed with death.

It's about learning how to live alongside the knowledge that it exists.

The strange little worlds I create help me bring those two ideas together. The playful and the uncomfortable. The sweet and the rotten. The beautiful and the temporary.

In a way, the humour makes death feel less threatening.

Not because it removes the reality of it, but because it reminds me that life continues to contain joy, curiosity and wonder.

A pigeon stealing pizza doesn't erase mortality.

A smiling strawberry doesn't erase mortality.

A raccoon collecting treasure from a pile of trash doesn't erase mortality.

But they remind me that life is still full of things worth noticing.

Candy Decay is not about ignoring death.

It's about acknowledging it and choosing to enjoy life anyway.

Maybe that's why the paintings feel both cheerful and slightly unsettling at the same time.

They reflect how I see the world now.

Fragile.

Temporary.

Weird.

Funny.

Beautiful.

And worth enjoying while we're here.

My Candy Decay artworks grew from this experience — colorful surreal mixed media pieces filled with cute creepy characters, weird animals, strange objects and bittersweet reminders of how fragile and beautiful life can be.

If you connect with these little worlds, you can explore my surreal art prints or discover my original Candy Decay artworks.