Large Monoprints (more to come)

(click to enlarge)

1995 and 1996 radically changed my practice of, and my thinking about Art.



I was tired of straight forward 'Realism.' By that time I had been an illustrator for more than 15 years, and could draw anything I wanted. As I walked in the city I began to see beauty in the sidewalk cracks, and felt inspired by the persistence of the plants growing in them. "Nature can be resisted, but never tamed." The contrast fascinated me and I decided to try 'printing' several patches of cracked concrete.

I showed 10 of these large, enigmatic canvases at a public Art Gallery in September of 1996. And in 1998, I was an Artist in Residence, demonstrating my technique at 'The Works,' Art Festival .

Artist's Statement

(Click photo to enlarge.)


I am an artist and art teacher with nearly 35 years experience.

I see my work as research. Though my paintings appear quite abstract, I seek a new, fresher approach to realism. "Barrier," the painting in the header for this blog, was done using a roller on newsprint. The brown squares are moldy bread.

I made the 'background' impression by putting the paper over a wrought iron grate and rolling as if I was doing a 'rubbing.' The result is a loose pattern, which while being quite unlike the grate in character, has an important relationship with the subject. The fact that it borrows elementary characteristics (dimensions, parallel lines, diagonals) and was actually in contact with the subject for a time, brings very interesting considerations of what's "Real" and what's "Realism."

The large canvases in the mono-print series retained specific 'topographic' features. Replicas.

Anyway, 'abstract' can also mean to summarize or distill, and I like to distill characteristics of "ordinary reality" and present them in a new context. If the viewer gets an impression that's "oddly familiar," I consider the painting a success.

Some of these samples of my work are in public and private collections. Some are for sale.