I began my career in 1959 at New York’s renowned High School of Art & Design, a school that boasts such famous alumni as Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs. I went there at the suggestion of my 8th grade art teacher who recognized my love for drawing and that I was quite good at it. There I developed a passion for art history and mastered the skills required for creating my own art.

 

My knowledge, skills and talent grew substantially at the famous The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. The instructors at SVA were not just learned – each was an acclaimed artist in his or her own right. I was fortunate that they recognized my gift early on and pushed me to become the artist I am today.

 

Upon graduation I was drafted into military service in Viet Nam. My life then took a significant turn. Once discharged my creative drive was channeled into building an advertising agency in Charlotte, North Carolina, which I ran for 40 years. Here I applied my creative talents by conceiving and overseeing award winning graphic concepts and designs. Never did I accept mediocrity. In my graphics, as in my painting, quality is paramount.

 

Throughout my years in training, when abstract expressionism ruled the art world, my focus remained on figurative subject matter. To this day, I do not just slap paint on canvas. I believe art should tell a story in a beautiful way.

 

I am an artist’s artist. Invariably my most appreciative audiences are other artists, who readily see what is “happening” in my pictures. When I paint a musician, I want you to hear him as well as see him. When I paint a landscape, I want you to feel it and hear it and smell it. When I paint a woman, I want you to (think you) know what she’s thinking. And when I paint with a roar of impossible color, I want you to exclaim, “Yes, I get that!”