B a c k g r o u n d

Raised in the midwest and encouraged at a young age to use my talent, I quickly became known in my school for my drawings.

I was raised without Television so am fascinated with the idea that the air is filled with images, words and ideas that I can't see unless I properly 'tune in' to the right wavelength.

As I have evolved, my work is becoming a little bit like these unseen thoughts. I like the analogy that my paintings are like a favorite song whose words I may not know - yet with only a few words humming in my mind- I seem to find an important meaning to a song. Also it is in this way that my work has increasingly become more understated using more texture and patina as my art vocabulary evolves .




 
 

I desire to evoke the unconscious but not be preoccupied by the exact direction. I like for those who love my work to feel that they have something to do with the intent of the painting as they can relate to it.

The desert is often thematic in my work but not usually literal. This is true with the pictures of humans, Saguaros, fish and other recurring images appearing in my works as well. Most humans represent a feeling or emotion and horses usually represent relationships. Much of my work is very subconscious and the meaning is only more clear after the passage of time. New paintings are often partly a mystery even to myself.

  Background:
  • Graphic Design- Columbia MO
  • Asst. Art Director- Echo Bay, NV
  • Designer- Rapport Magazine L.B. -CA
  • Commercial Illust.- Missoula MT
  • Freelance Illust.- Sacto. CA
  • Fine Art Serigraphy- Sacto. CA
  • Original works- Wm Spencer Gallery

One Man Exhibits:

  • Horvath Bass Galleries - Sacramento
  • Medussa Gallery - Sacramento
  • Wm Spencer Gallery - Sacramento
  • Art Box Gallery -Roppongi - Tokyo
  • San Ygnacio Ltd. - L.A. Art Expo

    Current Exhibits:
  • Pride Gallery - Bisbee, AZ
  • Belleza Fine Art - Bisbee, AZ
  • Nieman Hayden Fine Art - Scottsdale, AZ


  • Juried shows:

  • Sausalito Art Festival - 1989
  • Los Angeles Art Expo - 1989
  • Kingsley Art exhibit at The Crocker Museum of Art.
    Juried by former curator of The Whitney Museum of Art


  • Magazines features:

  • Sunstorm Fine arts - Southern CA.
  • Art Expo Preview magazine
  • Decor - National Art magazine
  • Sacramento - The 'Best of the city'-issue
  • On The Wings - Sacto. Art review


  • More background & commentary

    I grew up in the midwest in a bit of a cultural void. My Parents were very concerned that we be exposed to as many new things as possible - so our family made it a point to travel at least twice a year. I went alone to 9 European countries when I was 16. My first trip to the Kansas City Art institute is a very powerful memory and I can still recall how my father stared at a large modernist canvas entitled 'Red over Black'. I spent many years thinking about that work. I was first exposed to the art of Jasper Johns through Life Magazine and was taken by his ochre pallette and the way he was able to take primary colors and give them a sense of age. I was also drawn to the art of Rauschenberg and began my first experiments with silk-screen in 1987.

    In 1989, I held my first one man show at Horvath Bass Galleries in Sacramento CA. The next year I was chosen for the juried Sausalito Art Festival and featured in Art Expo Los Angeles.

    In 1990 I was given my second One man show in Sacramento at Medusa Gallery and was chosen by Sacramento art galleries unanimously for the coveted 1990 Northern California "Rising Star" award bestowed by Sacramento's "on the Wing" Fine Arts magazine to the most promising artists of Northern California.

    Later that year I began a two year long exhibit at a gallery space in the K-Street area of downtown Sacramento. The space was gifted to me by Sacramento Merchants of the K-Street downtown association. During that exhibit over 10,000 people visited my exhibit and I sold over 150 works.

    I closed the exhibit to create work for a one man show in the Roppongi Art district of Tokyo. Later I was given an exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum - sponsored by the Kingsley Art Club. The Crocker is the oldest Art Museum in the west and the Kingsley Art club is the oldest Art club in the West. The exhibit was juried by former curator of the Whitney Museum of Modern Art NY and my work was chosen from over 800 California Artists. I served as a special docent for the exhibit. Later that year my work was featured in Sacramento Magazine's "best of the city" issue. The event was covered by PBS Arts Alive.

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