Concise Statement

My individual flora unfurl into colors that are coalesced by a cohesive background. These petals which are imbued with verve seem to combine a life form of vitality within them. The bold colors of the flowers and sometimes varying subtle shades of hues of the vessels permeate the panel to create a facet of unanticipated whimsy. These images of vegetation seem to leap from an atmosphere of a nonaligned reality. They are immersed in an ambiance of painterly neutrality and therefore are swallowed by an environment of the unforeseen.

In these interim moments filled with visual dance, all the while static, they seem to wind and bend as if tethered to the breeze. Twisted and maligned is the foliage, almost as if raised in a concertina, each plant procured in a moment of instance has been asked to live as an integral aspect of harmony, melody and discourse at the same time.

These visual stories have duality, deliberate and indistinct meaning, suggested thoughts that can only be experienced in cerebral ways, evocative of Alice in Wonderland, a Child's world filled with naivety, innocents and fantasy.

These flowers achieve a life in relation to unadorned species not yet defined. All of this is done by a process of continual engagement, artistically articulated in many methods through visual media such as paint.

Profile

As an Artist who grew up in Philadelphia I entered my formal studies in 1981 at the Pennsylvania Academy. The first experiences I had with exhibitions were from my student days when I competed for the entrance into school exhibitions. Many years have passed for me since those years and I have been in numerous venues. Living close to New York City has yielded very many opportunities north of Philadelphia as well as heading south to other lands. I have exhibited in SoHo NY, in 2005 and in Chelsea NY several times since then. My latest exhibition was in Brooklyn at the Micro Museum 2009 - 2010. While I was exhibiting in Chelsea, NY I had the honor of receiving a review of my work by Ed McCormack of Gallery and Studio Magazine of New York City. The full review is listed on this website. I have continued to exhibit in many places like Havre De Grace, Maryland. I was again privileged with my first one person exhibition at The University of Pennsylvania which was followed by another one person exhibition at Temple University within a year.

There are many individual and institutions that have the privilege of having my work in their possession. As time went on and with entering many competitions I became the recipient of many prizes and awards, going back to "85" when I received the Alexander Prize at the Academy, to most recently the Curator's Choice Award at the Micro Museum. As time went by I endeavored upon competitions for significant grants, namely The Guggenheim Foundation  Grant and Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant as well as others and I was accepted into the competitions and was considered for those awards.

I would say in my life the most difficult thing I have engaged in was the rigors of education. When I look back at my tenure (twice) at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for a C.F.A. and an M.F.A. also The University of Pennsylvania where I received my B.F.A. although I enjoy learning, the pressure was extreme and the drain intense.

Although my greatest inspiration comes from the faculty I have studied with along the lines of painting and creating actual art, either by working along side them or by watching a demonstration in class. The utmost stimulation visually for my work and the imagination to create, compose, and color is from my travels to the American North West, specifically the Yellowstone and Grand Teton region in the seasons of 87-88-89-91. For me the shape and color of the mountain wild flower has been an excessive and important stimulation in the creation of art. Even Monet said "I paint for flowers"

Upon my return to the Philadelphia area in 1987 I started an extremely intense practice and study of the interpretation, design and manufacture of paintings on the flower genre. You can view those paintings on the images page of this website. This work is not all I do and I will continue to work as a creative artist making numerous types of expressions. Please stop back periodically; this is my work and the work I continue to make for years to come. I will have images of other types of art as time goes by. These images will relate in part to flowers yet not as a whole.