Some of my earliest memories of Nirvana are actually memories of my mom.

I remember being really young, riding around while she played their CDs in the car. I remember the music videos on MTV. And I remember Kurt dying and seeing how genuinely upset she was.

It’s funny looking back because there was that brief period when you’re a kid where your parents just seemed incredibly cool. That version of my mom listening to Nirvana is permanently stuck somewhere in my memory.

Eventually Nirvana became something I connected with on my own, but I think that early exposure is probably why Kurt has always felt a little more personal to me.

For “Never Quite Here,” I kept pushing this new portrait language I’ve been developing, breaking the face apart and rebuilding it with color, shape, linework and pieces of the person’s story. There are references to Kurt and Nirvana buried throughout, but I didn’t want the Easter eggs to overpower him. At the end of the day, it still had to feel like Kurt.

“Never Quite Here” (2026) is available now as a signed and numbered limited edition print.