Gallery

About

Contact

Home

About my Art, About Art and About Me

I’ve created art for many years though, for the most part, as a part time artist. And, until recently, I did little to expose, promote or market my work. Thus, except for what I’ve listed below there won’t be a long list of exhibitions or credits. Instead I’ll attempt to get you to know me as an artist by explaining my art, my perception of art and it’s affect on the art I create. I guess you can say it’s my Abstract Expressionist’s version of the customary Artist Bio and Resume.

My paintings and reliefs express the beauty I see in basic form and simple objects by creating a consciousness of line and depth using geometric shapes exposed in abstract settings and expressed in soft tints, soothing tones and vivid hues.

I work primarily in acrylics which best suit my hard-edged style and I paint on canvas, wood and other media. My art acumen and manner of expression have evolved primarily from architectural and graphic art training and the work of several artists whom I greatly admire. I’ve borrowed a little from each to formulate my unique artistic personality that communicates my vision of the elegance of simplicity, color and natural form as they endure in our increasingly complex society.

Early on, my passion for art dominated many of my choices resulting in a proliferation of my exposure to it. Throughout grade school, college and my business career I’ve studied art history, painting and every technique I envision as related to art that I wish to create. And, I’ve been devoted to creating art with all the time I could muster beyond my career and my family.

I began exhibiting in 1993 and since have shown many of my paintings and reliefs in juried shows in New Jersey and New York including state, national and international exhibits some details of which are summarized below:

October 2009 – Two of my paintings were included in the Small Works Exhibit at the 2/20 Gallery in New York City.

January 2010 – Two of my paintings were selected for the Art connections 6 Exhibit at the George Segal Gallery of Montclair State University. The Juror is Jerelle Kraus – New York Times Art Director and author of the book – All The Art That’s Fit To Print.

January 2010 – My painting / collage Room With My Art was selected to be exhibited in the International Juried Show at the Rogue Space Chelsea Gallery in New York City. The Juror is David Cohen – Gallery Director of the New York Studio School, Publisher of ArtCritical.com and formally the Art Critic of the New York Sun.

March 2010 – My Painting - Looking Both Ways – has been selected to be included in the Wide Open Art Exhibit at the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Collation Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The distinguished jurors - including Anne Strauss, Associate Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) and Nicholas Baume, Director and Chief Curator of the New York City Art Fund - chose 147 works from almost 1,600 that were entered.

June 2010 – I was Selected for a One Person Exhibit of my Art at the Oceanic Free Library in Rumson, New Jersey.

I plan to continue to learn, focus my vision, enrich my skills of expression and search for my art identity and possibly some recognition in the Art World. I love to create art and my greatest satisfaction will always be the pleasure I personally derive from it and the admiration it receives from my family and my friends; anything else will be a windfall.

My Take on Art

I’m often asked how do I label my art or where does it fit in. Truthfully, I don’t know; I never enlisted in any movement or deliberately worked in any recognized genre. My artistic personality simply evolved; it was instinctive; a compilation of my skills, some training, the work of artists I admire and my vision – what I see and what I feel. And, I guess as my grandfather used to put it - some “chutzpa”. Because, putting brush to canvas to express oneself isn’t natural or easy; it takes a certain degree of arrogance or simply - it takes “guts”.

Yet, kids do it all the time because they are uninhibited – not constrained by all the stuff that pollutes us as time passes. A child’s art can be so expressive and so revealing that it’s often used by therapists as a psychoanalysis tool when dealing with disturbed children.

I have great admiration for representational art, but I find creating it laborious and wearisome. Perhaps it’s because I’m not very good at it. But, more than that, when I paint to express my feelings or my interpretation of something rather than painting what it physically or actually is – the sky becomes the limit, I’m free and creating art becomes adventurous and exciting.

I presume Newman, Rothko and Pollack had similar motivation when they began the celebrated abstract paintings they became so well known for. They were skillful artists who painted beautiful portraits, landscapes and still lifes yet; they chose to use their art to express themselves because it made them feel right. And it also paid off; a Rothko abstract “Color Fields” painting recently sold at auction for 18 million dollars. Startling when you consider it’s a painting that most people don’t understand, don’t really like and that they probably wouldn’t pay a hundred bucks for if they saw it in an antique shop.

I’m reminded of an opening reception some years ago for a Juried State Show. I had a painting included that I thought could receive a judge’s award and the Juror was an associate curator at the Museum of Modern Art in NY. I stood close to my painting because I liked observing the interest and reactions it received and there were two women standing in front of me. One said something like - “s—t, my class can do better work than that”. I guess she was an art teacher with a bias against abstract art. Anyway, my painting did receive honorable mention and the overall winner was an 8”x 10” Minimalist, untitled, unframed almost colorless collage of paper on paper that seemingly had no substance and which I doubt took more than 10 minutes to create. I have no idea what the juror saw in it and I’ve wondered what that art teacher’s take on it was. But, that’s what I love about art.

Born to be an artist, I succumbed to family and peer pressure and became an accountant. Not a good move for an expressive creative person. So, I was always looking for a way out and wound up in the Debt Collection Business (a long story you probably don’t need to hear about). I did okay, sent my kids to college but eventually, I sold the business and wrote a book about dealing with debt. It became popular and created my persona as the “Get Out Of Debt Coach” which allows me to help people in tough situations which I greatly enjoy.

I’ve painted throughout this period and started showing my work and receiving some positive feedback in the early nineties. I even sold a few paintings and probably could have sold more if I priced them lower. (My theory was and still is - if I don’t consider my paintings valuable – who will?)

If you need to know more I also collect art and pottery, I maintain tropical fish and marine ecosystems, I kayak, I go fresh water fishing and I root for the Yankees, and all the traditional New York sports teams.

My greatest joy is my family and my most important accomplishment is the part I played in raising five “great kids”; all college grads and all responsible, compassionate and devoted to their families. I plan to write more books and create a lot more art.

Finally a most revealing question – which three individuals would I choose to have lunch with if I could pick anyone – alive or dead? That’s pretty easy -- Pablo Picasso to pick his amazingly creative brain, Barack Obama because of his incredible accomplishments and because I love Five Guys’ fries and Golda Meir, a remarkable woman who reminds me of my grandmother. And, if I could choose one more person it would probably be Clint Eastwood because of my admiration for the art he creates.

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this dissertation but, more than that – I hope you enjoy my art.