I
approach drawing as a way to connect with the world. It has
always been important for me to maintain sketchbooks, to
participate in life drawing sessions, and to draw my friends
and relatives. Nonetheless, I see drawing as more than documentary;
I aim to raise questions. As Francis Bacon stated, "The
job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." My
recent series of paintings and drawings have focused on people
in costumes or on the the mixture of assertiveness and vulnerability
in young people. The 60" x 40" charcoal/conte'
portrait in NDA, "Adolescence," shows a 15-year-old
girl with a defiant stare. I aimed to enhance the concept
of adolescent rebellion with the formal issues of scale (overpowering),
composition (imposing), and with the choice of surface and
media. As far as the latter, in an effort to create a "right
there" immediacy, I chose to draw with vine charcoal
and white conte' highlights. The surface is a large piece
of archival corrugated cardboard, which has been torn and
patched as a metaphor for the changeable and less than smooth
age of the model.
born: 1956,
Detroit, MI
education
Wayne State University, MFA
Yale University, BA
selected
awards/honors
Honorable Mention, Wildlife, Lafayette, IN,
2005
DAAP Professor of the Year, University of Cincinnati, 1999
Third Place, Small Works, Base Gallery, Cincinnati,
OH, 1996
First Place, Painting, Contemporary Religious Art, St.
John's, Newark, NJ, 1989
selected publications
Wayne State University Press: 100 Select Works
from the Wayne State University Art Collection, 2004
The Star Ledger, Newark, NJ, 1992
Artspeak, New York, NY,1988
The Detroit News, Detroit, MI, 1985
selected solo or two-person exhibits
2-Person: Records and Illusions, University Galleries,
Cincinnati, OH, 2006
Solo Show: Recent Work, Benedictine University,
Lisle/Chicago, IL, 1996
Solo Show: Carnegie Art Center, Covington, KY, 1987
Solo Show: CADE Gallery, Royal Oak/Detroit, MI, 1986
selected
group shows
Art of Exposure, Contemporary Art Center,
Cincinnati, OH, 2005
Unity Canvas: A Collective Response to 9/11, Williamsburg,
Brooklyn, NY Art & Historical Center, 2002
50 Years, Human Re-visions, The Peace
Museum, Chicago, IL, 1995
Talent at the Allan Stone Gallery, NY,
NY 1988
