Bio/Artist Statement
I was born in 1956, (an army brat) in Ft. Belvoir Va. I lived in South Africa for four years (ages 8-12 ) where my father was the U. S. Army Attaché.
Attended Junior and Senior high school in Northern Virginia - graduated in 1975.
Attended under grad at Virginia Commonwealth University, where I majored in painting. During this time I was juried into the last three Virginia Artist Biennials held at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - 1979, 81 and 83. After being in and out of college several times, I graduated in 1984 with a B.F.A.
While in and out of college I worked at U.P.S. part-time as a package sorter. In 1986 I quit U.P.S. to devote full time to painting portraits. I was represented by Cudahy's Gallery, Richmond, Va. I was able to make a fairly good living (for an artist) but was left esthetically unfulfilled. In 1989, armed with greatly enhanced painting skills, I decided to go to graduate school at V.C.U., to develop more esthetically involved painting ideas, I had in my mind. Although not universally appreciated, I earned the respect of a handful of key professors and successfully developed the painting style I use today.
I graduated with a M.F.A. early in 1992 and that spring received the 1992 Va. Museum Fellowship for Painting. The juror was Neal Benezra, Chief Curator of The Hirshorn Museum. This was a tremendous validation of my work, which along with the money, helped me to continue full time as a fine artist continuing my new work.
In 1993 I gained representation at the Martha Mabey Gallery in Richmond Va. and had a one man show in August of that year. The show was a critical success, with a few important sales. In addition to the local papers, the show was reviewed by Dawn Latane of Art Papers, a national publication.
My goal, as I approach each painting, is to achieve or arrive at a synergetic presence, a painting in which a combination of cooperative forces form a whole, greater than the sum of its parts. By presence, I mean that quality which creates in the viewer a desire to fully engage with the painting for an extended period of time. Presence is that seemingly magical quality which is essential to making a painting great.
Since then my paintings have involved blurred or out-of-focus imagery. My sources for this imagery are out-of-focus photographs, which I take myself. I use photography as an editing or abstracting process which results in the removal of the subject matter from real (three dimensional ) space and its placement in flat (two dimensional) space. After many years of dealing with the inherent pitfalls in the use of photographic information in painting, I have a good idea what kind of photographic information best serves painting ideas. The photographs I use often interest other painters because of their drawing or abstract qualities, but they are of little esthetic or utilitarian use in a traditional photographic sense. They are carefully selected images that suggest painting ideas or the possibility of achieving that desired presence? through the transmutation of the image into paint.
There has been a lot of discussion / argument concerning the categorization of my work. As the approach is virtually Photo Realistic and the resultant paintings have an Impressionistic feel, the closest to an apt description I have found is Photo Impressionism.... a Post Modern approach to Impressionism.
I hope you enjoy my work.
ADDENDUM
I have been a stay at home dad since 1995. In 1998, our second child was born, effectively ending my full-time professional artist status. During this time I was able to do commissioned work from time to time but nothing toward a new body of work. However both children are in school now and I have been working on a new body of work, examples of which will soon be on this website. I have also rekindled my portrait business.