 From a young age, I developed a deep appreciation and fascination with the human form. I was first captivated by the visual images of renaissance artists that I repeatedly looked at as a young boy. At the same time, I was taught to work with my hands on projects with my father. From model-building, and school art projects as a boy, to rough and finish carpentry as a remodeling contractor, I have continually used my hands and body to create and build things.
My creativity was nourished by and education rich in mythology and history; reading classical literature and writing. After earning a B.A. in Psychology, I went to Art Center, College of Design in Pasadena, CA. There, I had the good fortune to meet Dan McCaw who continues to inspire my own expressiveness, experimentation, and color harmonies. Through Dan, I met Steve Huston an artist who has taught me about the subtleties of drawing and painting the human form.
Now as an artist, I celebrate this blending of experiences and classical education in my own paintings of this incredible form - the human body. My paintings of construction workers show the figure hard at work, bending, stretching and straining. Constantly risking pain and injury these heroic figures, build our houses, as we watch in admiration from a distance while we drive past a job site or view on some do-it-yourself television program.
My paintings of Flamenco dancers illustrate these performers in all aspects of their efforts using Edgar Degas' ballerinas as inspiration. From rehearsals, practices, and performances, to quiet moments between them, we see all aspects of this beautiful and graceful athlete, using the human form as a vehicle to capture what interested Degas himself so much -- the beauty of the human form in motion.
I strive to capture the fun as well as the struggle in people's everyday lives. The dedication and the hard work of another person working on their craft. My figures are painted rather anonymously, inviting the viewer to empathize with the subject. We can imagine, or wish we are one of the people in these paintings. With an eye toward classicism, but firmly rooted in the contemporary, I strive to create images that all of us can relate to; the dedication, the hard work of somebody else, working in their chosen field of endeavor.
We all love some expression of art be it music, painting or dance. And we all need a roof over our head. My paintings offer a chance to get better acquainted with the people who make these things possible. Using my memories of and emotional connections with my chosen subject matter, I strive to connect viewers with people we usually see only from a distance.
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