I painted this “selfie” some 20 years ago, around the time I had determined to take my passion for art, which first emerged in early childhood, to a higher level. Perhaps some of that comes through.
Even as a child I was taken by the figure. I drew my favorite panda bear as if he were performing on a stage and my toy horses as if they were galloping over the prairies of my bed covers. In time my passion for drawing toy figures grew into a passion for drawing the human figure. In high school I spent many Saturdays at the Art Students League in NYC,
To draw the figure is to honor the human form itself, its almost mystical beauty and gracefulness, billions of years in the making. In addition, I try to delve beneath the surface to glimpse something of my models’ interior lives. What are they thinking as they stand or sit or recline, nude, surrounded by women and men, by easels, quiet music and conversation? Where do they go off to in that spiritual space? I try to be open to them and try to honor each model as a thinking, feeling, singular human being.
Beyond the figure, I hope my seascapes and other natural images capture something of my love for the whole of nature, its almost heartbreaking beauty and spiritual transcendence. I want to express something of the wonder I feel for life in all its interconnectedness, and the sense of loss I feel when I reflect on what we are doing to ourselves, to one another, and to the world itself.
I have no illusions about the power of art to transmogrify a world out of balance, but I feel it offers glimpses into how we might heal ourselves and one another. And hopefully some of the creatures with whom we share the earth. For these and other reasons I want to show some of the work I’ve been engaged in over these many years, and to offer them up for sale to those who might find in my still emerging vision a kindred spirit. I realize some of these works are yet in process, but I’ve come to realize that if I wait for the perfect moment to show my art it may never happen. As Lou Reed once sang, “Now is the time because there is no time.”