Intensity Of The Moment Series
My process as an artist is to initiate a work of art, then have conversation with it at it comes into being. My role is to listen closely to the work, to intervene decisively, and to know when to step back. This process allows the work to reveal itself over time. Each piece is a singular event—an unrepeatable convergence of material, sensation, and lived experience—formed in the intensity of the moment in which it was created.
Color is my jam. My mother was an interior designer, my father a photographer and my sons and I are all graphic designers. So none of us can ignore the nuance of color. The way light and shadow change a color’s hue, the manner in which two juxtaposed colors influence one another, and the way certain colors make us feel are not lost on us. Sometimes I am drawn to a work of art simply because I resonate deeply with its color. It satisfies me like a wafer melting on my tongue.
Through The Window
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 48 × 48 inches.
The Light Finds Me
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 40 × 40 inches. $8,000
Like a sunset glistening on the water, the colors of nature represented in this piece intermingle and bounce off of one another. Reflective golden pigments give the painting a warm glow and feeling of peace and tranquility.
As an artist, paintings don’t always come together as expected. I usually don’t expect paintings to come together in any particular way, but some are less easy to tame once they have begun. Each shape on this work was painted over multiple times, each one an experiment (or struggle) with juxtaposition of color and overall composition.
Grid Interrupted
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 48 × 48 inches. $12,000
I am drawn to structures of any kind. As a child I was dragged around the city of Chicago, a small figure weaving around countless gargantuan buildings. They impressed me with their boxy rhythms and great height and I am drawn still to the architecture of things.
When What I Build Builds Me
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. $3000
Every Wednesday for the past decade my friend Rick and I have met for coffee. We talk about art and the internal and external struggles we, as full time artists, encounter as we work. In one particular meeting he challenged me: “What if you ignored all of the bad advice your mind is offering up and gave yourself permission to just paint whatever you want.” Permission Granted is the result of that exploration.
Permission Granted
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 30 × 30 inches. $4200
As an artist, I am always chasing something. Perfection. A sense of accomplishment. Some magical finish line in the future, Whatever it is, I can’t seem to get there no matter how hard I try. So I have to settle for “what is.” And that is a difficult thing to do. In this work I stopped painting before I felt like I was really finished. But when is a work really finished? in this case, when I put down the brush.
Another Window Opens
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 30 × 20 inches. $3000
This piece sat on my easel for several months, developing as inspiration drew me to it. If I was working with a “yummy” color, or had extra paint I needed to use, I would wander over to it and add a shape or two where it felt right. I very much enjoyed the building of this work over time and am inclined to do it again, as the exercise involved less self criticism than usual and was quite freeing.
Matrix Of Matter
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 30 × 20 inches. $3000
My favorite place to be on any given day is the woods. Three is something visceral and almost sexy about a space so deliciously alive with life and death. Walking through I am reminded of how long the trees have stood in place, unbending. and how the smell of decaying pine needles and fallen leaves is a smell that reminds me fresh skin.
A Path Through The Woods
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. $3000
i admire artists who carefully plan out their work; create multiple studies and painstakingly construct each piece one slow moment at a time. Their work looks controlled and pristine and I want to own it. But that controlled behavior is neither part of my nature or the nature of the encaustic medium. Both rebels, we shoot from the hip, ignoring time, rules and any constraints that present as a plan. The work evolves in its own time under no pressure to be anything preconceived or intended. This piece pleasantly surprised me with its innate balance and beautifully subtle movement.
Less Space Between Me And The Sun
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. SOLD
I’m at the beach, looking at the sea; noticing the contrast between the water and the lifeguard’s orange suits. Someone must have looked at a color wheel when deciding their apparel. Exact opposites these colors are. Allowing the men and women who watch after the swimmers to be most visible in the blue sea.
Sea Swim
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. $3,000
What excites me most about creating the work that I do? The wide range of surface textures each medium provides. I am most delighted by the way the luminous encaustic wax covered in a sheen of gold contrasts with with matte hues of the oil paint when mixed with cold wax and the dance that happens between the two when you move around the piece or when light hits the surface of the work. The squat horizontal rows in this work bring me joy as they sparkle while the taller rows mute themselves.
Woven In Time
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 48 inches. $6000
My father’s identical twin brother was a sculptor who taught at Cooper Union in New York City. One day in the early 80's he and I traipsed all around the city taking in the tall skyscrapers and as much art as we could. After walking over than 50 blocks, my feet got so blistered that I had to take off my shoes and walk barefoot. Miraculously I survived.
Skyscraper III
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 36 × 48 inches. $8000
Working from a base of encaustic, engraved and filled with gold, the groundwork invites me into the playful dance of painting in the small rectangles one rhythmic step at a time. Sometimes I lose track of the beat, or the music starts all sounding the same, at which point I sit out and simply observe the dancing forms. I join in again when the music gets loud and pulls me in and my feet move on their own, without my noticing them.
Convergence
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 22 × 30 inches. $3300
I am working on being less of a perfectionist. It’s not easy. Moving through this series I have begun to notice that the elements I might normally regard as “imperfect” or think of as mistakes can actually be some of the most interesting parts of the work. A contrasting color inserted in a random place, an amorphous shape, a ragged line—all become points of interest, items of curiosity. I am learning to allow these imperfections to have their time in the sun.
The Other Starry Night
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. $3000
It is summer and I am in Maine right now. All around me I see green trees, blue sky, and warm sand. There is something cozy and warm about these surroundings, even though this color spectrum is cool. And what is that feeling we all get when the days are as beautiful as this? Freedom. Aliveness. The sense of eternity encapsulated in a single moment…
Beach Day
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches. $3000
I am drawn to the contrast between the opaque, matte pigments in the foreground of this piece and the textured, luminous wax in the background. From afar this composition is more rigid and grid-like but up close the interplay between wax and paint, solid and pattern lures you in for a closer look.
Virtue’s Veil
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 24 × 24 inches.
Evolution is the process. I don’t steer my paintings in any direction or try and make them look like anything in particular, rather, I allow the image to come into focus as the work is evolving. In A Thousand Ways To Go Home the lush green base felt as if it were a verdant hill supporting a glistening sky. And I liked the feeling of it. I prefer to leave any interpretations of the work to the viewer’s imagination—after all, the work belongs to the viewer—but I enjoy the images my mind congers up.
There Are A Thousand Ways To Go Home
Encaustic and oil pigments. | 30 × 30 inches. $4200