I am interested in how movement affects relationships and the space and light which lies between shapes. I use my entire body in painting and drawing and take an approach influenced by musicians such as Coltrane who sometimes went into a session with little more than a single measure of a folk melody written on a matchbook cover. Using viscous media such as oil, chalk, and graphite enables me to feel an image taking shape in much the same way as a dancer feels an image taking shape in 3 dimensional space. Animating my images satisfies a constant need for movement. Having worn out the "consistency makes it easier to sell" rule in my early work, I now take refuge in and inspiration from other artists such as Richter who have never cared for such limitations inspite of the trade's criticism of him (and others). I
grew up in Los Angeles amidst a family of artists and have
lived and worked as an artist on the west coast almost all of my life.
I started drawing and painting when I was 4 and while still in high school, began working as a graphic designer and illustrator in the print world. As a kid I fell passionately and equally in love with music, dance, and theatre and worked comfortably in whatever media best served my ideas. I have spent almost as much time in music and dance (Bella Lewitzky, Anthony Braxton, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Leo Smith, and others) as I have in the visual arts. In the mid-90s I immersed myself in Greek, Turkish, and east European Jewish instrumental music. The improvisational forms of this music continued to inspire and influence me. In 2000, I became fascinated by science, physics, mysticism, and theology which led to the Sparks project. After earning a B.F.A. in animation at California Institute of the Arts,
I worked in the computer industry as a designer and writer where I grew an interest in usability and interaction design leading me to Apple where I worked as a user interface designer and engineer until 1 of Apple's several large scale layoffs in the mid-90s. I went on to focus on using filmmaking and animation techniques to improve the user experience and create new products for companies ranging from Adobe to EDS. Illness and several years of caring for ill family members led me to return to drawing, painting, and filmmaking with a new approach focussing on my own ideas exclusively. Having worked for some of the largest healthcare corporations in America, I am as compelled to do my part in fixing the American healthcare system as I am to offer a sense of beauty and wonder to viewers of my artwork. |
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