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| BFA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF FINE ART, FOUR YEAR CERTIFICATE PROGRAM, FORD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP,
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
I have studied with some pretty fantastic artists over the years, including: David Levine, Jack Levine, Francis Criss,
Milton Glaser, Franklin Watkins, Hobson Pitman, John McCoy, Neil Welliver, Fairfield Porter, Burne Hogarth, Jackson Potter, Julian Levy, Ben Kamahira, Walter Stuempfig, Ruth Leaf and others. Collectively, these teaching artists have instilled a deep respect for the figurative tradition, and for artists working within that tradition.
My journey began cutting high school, and spending every one of those days wandering through the galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a place I found infinitely more interesting than my school, and well worth a few forged absence notes. I attended the evening program at SVA for a few years, sampling illustration, design, fashion, cartooning, and finally painting. This led to PAFA and their certificate program in fine art. I was on a quest for credentials. While at PAFA, I concurrently attended and finished the University of Pennsylvania's BFA program. I spent my time in Philly eating cheese steaks and trying to bridge two traditions, academic and contemporary, spread out over two campuses; realistic cast drawing in one class, blue dots on an orange field in another. Traditional portraiture and how to make rabbit skin glue from scratch versus how to give the appearance that you never studied art at all. When I graduated I was frantically searching for an "ism" to call my own, and hopelessly unemployable.
As you can tell by my paintings, realism, an art based on observations of nature, has triumphed. I use a brighter pallet than traditional realists, and love to add fantasy and design elements into the mix. My core skill is drawing. If I was forced to put a label on what I do, I would classify it as manipulative realism, a studio based process where I first document a subject, and then design a project around the documentation. I may get my inspiration from nature, but I try to add more. My most recent work has been narrative portraits of artists and botanicals. I continue to paint landscapes. My work has been well received and widely collected.
EXHIBITIONS:
I have had many solo and group gallery shows of my paintings, and have participated in juried exhibitions. I have exhibited in commercial venues such as Art Expo NY, museum venues, college venues, and virtual venues. I have also done several mural commissions in private residences. I have worked with corporate art reps, interior designers,
publishers and schools, I have won awards.
COLLECTIONS:
My work is in many private collections, professional offices, and the following public companies: Thomas Cook
Corp., United Airlines, Humana Hospital, Unisys Corp., I.B.M., Dupont, Sealand Shipping, United Jersey Bank, Aetna Ins.,
ADP Corp., Merck, Readers Digest, Pfizer, Whitesell Constr., Promosalons, Bertholon & Rowan, Manhattan Savings Bank,
EJ Squibb, Tower Constr., HIP of NY, and many others.
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