"I Am" holds the devotion of a life spent mastering color. Patient and exacting, the way a craftsman's hands know their material before the mind catches up. Initially titled "I Am That I Am," the piece was shortened to reflect a singular, absolute state of wholeness and being. Visually, pink is not an accent here; it is everything. An intense field of magenta, rose, and crimson dominates the surface, while copper, rust, burgundy, indigo, and Payne’s grey form a heavy substrate beneath. This immense warmth is built from months of paint mixed, remixed, and layered through collaged painted papers. Each fragment catches the light at a slightly different angle, giving the surface a vibrating, tactile density that commands a room. The work deliberately rejects the sweet or the decorative. It does not invite doctrinal debate or intellectualization. It simply arrives, offering the deep, wordless warmth that exists before speech and remains long after you leave, ultimately holding the very people who stand before it
