In Cincinnati, OH.

 

1978-1982, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1977, Montserrat Art School, Beverly, MA

 

Most of the paintings shown in each body of work is presented in reverse chronological order: most recent first, with a few exceptions where I grouped similar explorations together. 

      

A sampling of work spanning roughly three decades. Some of the approaches first attempted in the earlier years formed the basis for deeper explorations later, in the other bodies of work.  The use of painting knives is one example of this. The use of geometry and flatter areas of color is another.   

 

Many of these paintings, most only 3 by 4 inches, were done on boxes that oil-paint tubes come in.  I started doing these in art school, usually when I ran out of stretchers and canvas, or wanted to paint something seemingly "less serious". I continue making these paintings even today. Most of them are based on "snapshots" that I, my wife Tina, or friends have taken. The "box paintings" I later developed were an indirect result of these.

 

A refinement of the painting-knife technique employed in some of the early work. Except for some initial underpainting, all these paintings were completed with one painting knife. I started doing these paintings while living in Boston. Looking back at them now, I think the close presence of the ocean was a primary influence: ripples and undulations on a vast surface.  To me the earliest of these paintings have a strong landscape/seascape feel, but as the series developed they became more figurative.  

 

The genesis of these paintings were the knife paintings done on a more typical canvas support...and a commission. A potential buyer was visiting my studio and happened to notice a painting I had done on a small nail box.  He was quite interested in the painting but said he would like to see it done on a larger scale. He happened to be a skilled woodworker and offered to build a wide wood support over which canvas could be stretched, ultimately creating a box-like structure with a depth of about four inches. I was excited about his idea and thus created my first "box painting".  I carried my recent painting-knife explorations over onto these new paintings.  The "object" or sculptural element was pleasing to me, and fueled further creation of these paintings.  

 

In my recent work the colors have become bolder and are applied in a more direct and defined manner. As opposed to the intimacy of some of my earlier work, I wanted to make paintings that move outward into the viewer's space, projecting light and color into the room. In a funny way I think that loosely parallels my current viewpoint:  a little more focus on my surroundings and a little less introspection. Who knows where that will lead...