I was born and raised in the Southern United States and spent my childhood fascinated by nature, creeks, rivers, oceans and mountains. My friends and I would build tree houses over five levels, some fifty feet high, with materials “lifted” from various new houses being built. From finger paintings on my childhood walls to highly detailed surrealistic images depicting the tragic beauty of the human experience, I have attempted to get close to the very core of what makes our creative consciousness thrive. For the last thirty years or more my body of work would be labeled surrealism. Now, as I approach the middle of my life, the body of work has grown to a whole new frontier that has awakened in me the pure joy of painting again. I have spent the last two years concentrating my work on the duality and beauty of nature, in the abstract forms you see in my new paintings. What we call beauty, of any form, is what the 19th century landscape painters referred to as a by-produce of survival, natural selection, adaptation, etc. The forms you see in my work represent my struggle to illuminate the duality that life must have to survive and have an aesthetic quality at the same time. I hope you see my work as a dance of endless metamorphosis of these conflicting possibilities.
Education
1984–1989
BFA Painting, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio
Editor of college magazine, The Botticelli, which won the top National College Magazine of the Year award in 1989 from Merrill Publishing
Work Experience
1994–1998
Chief Conceptual Designer of North American Operations for British-based Airspace children’s indoor playground systems in Asheville, NC
1998–2002
Chief Conceptual Designer of playgrounds, murals, and all painting applications for Concept Grove Design in Rochester, NY
Gallery and Exhibitions
1990-1991
Group shows – Gibbs Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1992
Main Gallery World International Science Fiction Convention. Six works included “Best in Show,” New Orleans, LA
1992 Living Legends of Jazz series for Gambit Magazine, New Orleans, LA. Collaborative effort with Donn Young Photography, Dr. Michael White, head of the Smithsonian Jazz Band at that time, and I painted a large scenic back-drop for the series. We won the National Press Award for 1992.
1993
Two man show – Gibbs Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1993-94
Design the scenic look for New Orleans Jazzfest with Nan Parati Design (murals, scenics, and construction)
1994
One man show – Gibbs Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1995
One man show – Galax Gallery, Asheville, NC with over 40 large works
1997
Group show – Village Gate Gallery, Rochester, NY
1999
2 man show – Village Gate Gallery, Rochester, NY
2000-2003
Numerous group shows – Village Gate Gallery, Rochester, NY
2003 - present Professional artist, exhibiting in the United States and Canada