Biographical Notes and General Artistic Outlook
I believe that all our experiences ultimately show us that duality exists within the whole and is experienced through the interplay between our internal world and the external; it is an inward journey outwards: this is the driving force for my art.
Painting is work – physical, mental and spiritual – it absorbs me, frustrates and fulfills me…I knew early on as an artist I did not want to be defined by any artistic movement or “time”. Branding follows our great business/social media template, but my work colors outside the lines too often to lay claim to any “brand”, other than my signature…and yes, it makes it challenging to have two or more visually diverse series; especially with the current paradigm of artistic branding, in a world where one’s artwork is its own “brand” and product. I do not expect my works to be necessarily shown together but within their own “series”. I follow my muse, visually expressing through these diverse series what I am driven to create.
Our human nature shares a commonality throughout the ages, while still having its changing social mores. This is the rock of my American Archetype/Icon Series. Years ago, when I saw the Manet/Velázquez exhibit at the Met, and experienced their dialogue over centuries, it reinforced my commitment to continue my Archetype/Icon Series. I move between this and my other visual series, notably the Jazz/Horse Series while intermittently painting images that reflect the world the news media shows us, reacting to the socio-political events visually on the canvas.
I grew up filling sketchbooks with drawings interlaced with journaling and poetry. Attending a rigorous year at Temple’s Tyler School of Art left me better trained technically, but intellectually famished for more intellectual stimulation and I pursued a liberal arts and art degree at SUNY Stony Brook. I later briefly attended the National Academy of Design and The Art Students League.
After living in NY for over a year, I supported my Northport ,NY loft and my creative painting by commissioned portraits initially, and “discovered” court illustration as a way to work flexibly, freelancing as a media court sketch artist for every major TV station & newspaper in NY and L.I. for years. (CNN, WABC, CBS, News12 & Cablevision affiliates, Newsday, The Post, etc. as well as sketch packages for TV docu-dramas – i.e. Prime Time, Dateline, etc. Constantly sketching from life around me made the challenge of rendering live court action second nature. I also was gratified to be a working artist and have the time and freedom to paint independently. I showed in numerous juried and invitational shows before stopping due to earlier size and subject matter constraints and recently resumed if a show or juror looks interesting, such as the Norman Rockwell Museum’s “Reimaging the Four Freedoms” show, which traveled around the states until 2020. My piece depicting “Freedom from Fear” is a visual opportunity to make a social/political statement on the issue of wars, terrorism and random violence that continues as I write this.
While always drawing from life, I painted abstracts before beginning the ongoing figurative symbolism and my free flowing Jazz/Horse Series. This latter series spontaneously springs from a primal life force and into the present moment and I surrender to its drive. In the Archetype/Icon Series, I consciously lead and compose.
