During the mid-late 1980’s, I studied painting at the University of Delaware where I developed a figurative, neo-expressionist style similar to New York artists of the time. After graduating, I put down my brush and worked for ten years as a graphic artist, then ten years as a photojournalist. My dream during those years was to return to painting and live my life as a full-time artist and I’m pleased to say that I’ve done just that.
These days I am completely focused on developing as an abstract expressionist painter and creating an extensive oeuvre of dynamic, energetic pieces. As I complete a painting, I aspire to not to paint my subject but the effect it produces. My paintings exist somewhere in between the imaginary and the real, in a space where the visible meets the invisible.
I’m inspired by the New York School of abstract expressionists of the 1940's-1950's and I admire their diverse techniques of color, form and vibrant energy. Like these artists, I favor the simple expression of the complex thought. My subject matter is often abstract fields of moving color rendered in an energetic, emotional style - this arbitrariness of representation serves as an expressive element in my paintings.
My work is characterized by intense subjectivity, heavy impasto & rough handling of materials. I try to deconstruct traditional painting and create a solid foundation upon which I can create my own personal style and speak to my audience in a new visual language. I believe a work of art does not need to narrate or illustrate to be an effective means of expression.
I usually work in a spontaneous improvisatory manner often using brushes and palette knives to make sweeping gestural marks directly placing my inner impulses onto the canvas. My intention is to use color to produce a contemplative or meditational response in the viewer. The authenticity or value of my work lay in its directness and immediacy of expression.
“I have to change to stay the same.”
– Willem de Kooning