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Statement and Bio Below
Statement:
From my earliest engagement with painting, I wanted to explore what it meant to paint on my own terms. I questioned the very structure of painting itself – having found the rectangular, straight-edged shape of a painting and its conventional presentation to be limiting with little space to grow. This perspective opened areas of experimentation and investigation of where painting could go if it were not bound by traditional expectations. My work investigates how canvas holds and contains paint, how paint shapes the canvas, and how paint itself creates illusion, but not a pictorial illusion.
When I think creatively—whether through painting, music, writing, or teaching—I take elements of an existing language and repurpose them to see if new ideas can emerge with the hope that the results will reflect an honest pursuit of something pure and perhaps beautiful. This strategy of upending tradition to take creative risks is counterbalanced with a deep respect for the history of painting, its rich vocabularies and prior triumphs and failures. To spark new directions, I often employ reverse brainstorming --- applying the opposite of conventional approaches to better disrupt traditional frameworks in an effort to deconstruct established conventions and push out boundaries and uncover unexpected possibilities.
By consistently going against the grain, I hope to create space to reimagine how materials interact, transform, and hold meaning. Painting, to me, is not about image-making but about the relationship between paint, canvas, and structure—an evolving exploration of space, time, and materiality.
Bio:
I grew up in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and spent many childhood summers at a bungalow colony in Woodbourne, NY. These experiences left a lasting impression and a deep connection to nature that planted the seeds for an eventual return. I began exhibiting in New York City in the early 1990s at The Drawing Center and Stux Gallery, leading to a one-person exhibition at Silverstein Gallery in Chelsea in 1998, and an environmental earthwork at Socrates Sculpture Park in 1999. For over twenty years I taught art in the New York City public school system, and I integrated concepts of relational aesthetics into educational programs I designed for students, staff, and the wider community. Since my retirement, I have refocused on painting in my NYC and Catskills studios and exhibiting again -- most recently with two solo shows at Private Public Gallery in Hudson, NY and with an upcoming solo show at the University of Albany Museum.