Artist's statement
Full Artist's statement
In September 2015 I joined Studio Gallery, a cooperative of 50+ artists located at 2108 R Street. Since then, I've had solo and duo shows featuring urban landscapes, as well as work in yearly All Members Shows. October 2, 2019, "Nature on My Mind, Landscapes and Seascapes" opens at the Gallery.
As for my art more generally, everywhere I turn in our environment, I see a rich play of shapes and contours, textures and colors, rhythms and contrasts. Shift your view, there's a veritable cornucopia of impressions on which the eye can feast. This is especially true for me -- educated as an architect and planner -- in dense city centers where the skylines and streetscapes inspire my urban abstracts.
Many of the paintings derive from small drawings done onsite in ink or other dry media here in Washington, in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, and elsewhere -- cities with tall towers and bustling street scenes. Of particular note: New York's ubiquitous yellow taxis -- cruising the street, their home -- the subject of numerous drawings in black ink with a burst of bright yellow wash. Alas, with Uber and Lyft and other means of transport, yellow cabs seem in decline.
I also do figurative work and landscapes. I draw a lot, ink, graphite, conte, chalk and pastel. I have more than 300 sketchbooks along with loose papers of my artwork.
I took courses in the Open Programa at the Corcoran, studing with Leslie Exton and William Christenberry, and figure drawing through Smithsonian Associates. For 10 years I showed at gallery plan b on 14th Street, before it closed in 2015.
