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Education
U.C. Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA B.A. Fine Art 1985
Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, CA 1980-82
Selected Exhibitions
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Visual Arts Center of New Jersey 2008 22nd
International Juried Show.
Juror: Carter Foster, Curator of Drawing, Whitney Museum of
American Art
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Ella Sharp Museum Regional Juried Show. Jackson,
MI 2008
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American Juried Art Salon...2007 Spring/Summer
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Visual Arts Center of New Jersey 2007
21st International Juried Show.
Juror: Laura Hoptman, Senior Curator, New Museum of Contemporary
Art, NYC
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Ella Sharp Museum Regional Juried Show. Jackson,
MI 2007
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2nd Muyu Exhibition…Kyoto, Japan 1989
Gallery Shukugawa…Shukugawa, Japan 1989
Gallery Blanche…Ikeda City, Japan 1989
Dinnerware Gallery…Tucson, AZ 1987
India Joze Gallery…Santa Cruz, CA 1986
Art Services Gallery…Boulder Creek, CA 1986
Stevenson Gallery…Santa Cruz, CA 1985
Porter College Gallery…Santa Cruz, CA 1984
Statement
Art has often been described as silent poetry or equated to a
crystallized form of music but, for me, it goes deeper and knocks at
the door of the pillars of communication and awareness. Whether it
is with others or with one's self (as is more often the case with
contemporary art), it speaks to something deeper and undiscovered
that lies within. In this sense, art is language, pure and simple.
The goal of this visual speech is, first, to discover what its voice
is, and then, uncover the vocabulary necessary to communicate it.
Once these things have been established with confidence, any
subject, from flags to satyrs to subconscious musings to a portrait
of the Queen, can be illuminated with eloquence.
Picasso once stated that, "There is no abstract art. You must always
start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of
reality." For me this "something" is experience. It is simply not
enough for me to depict an object regardless of how accurate its
rendition may be, for nothing can be done by human gesture that
equals the hand of nature. If I have not actually experienced on
some level that, which I wish to portray, the result becomes nothing
more than clever, graphic legerdemain.
More importantly, for me, is the endeavor to expand the parameters
of how I perceive my world, say something about it and in doing so
say something about myself. The process I use is to first determine
if a particular experience has meaning to me and then explore the
visual vernacular I can use to communicate this. Drawing is
paramount and painting; the distillate of my experience. For the
last fifteen years much of this incubation has been in the shape of
a notational and visual journal scribbled in sketchbooks on the
steps of some castle in Europe or on the back of a paper napkin in
some bar in Japan all the while engaging in this thing called life.
The process itself never stops and when it begins to build up steam
and bursts out in images, you quickly end up with the beginning of
what seems to be a cohesive body of work.
Currently I am focused on how much I can step out of the way of the
process. Working from life has become a communion of sorts and
longer pieces an exercise in recognizing when an intrinsic pulse
begins to beat within the picture frame. Recognizing this is a most
elusive challenge. It is a zen-like exercise similar to trying to
push a drop of mercury down with your gloved fingertip or staring at
a floater in your eye. Each time you focus on it, it slides to the
side and to hold it in place in order to see it more clearly becomes
a feat that is most effective at the periphery.
"Anything can be art", said the ever-quotable John Cage, "all you
have to do is change your mind". While the process may be what is
considered art (for whatever sake it is done), it is the image that
ultimately receives the most attention. In the end, whatever one
says about one's work, it is the strength of that image that is its
most lasting and strident voice.
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