Born and raised in Niagara falls 1964 . Stared to draw at an early age as most children did but never thought much of it. During high school i did well in art class but failed at most every other subject.Again i enjoyed drawing, painting but never consider that it would go any ware . in 1986 i joined the air force and became a crew chief on working on aircraft. during the fall of 1987 my family came down for a visit and we stayed at a beach house in Rehoboth beach for a week. one nite while walking we came across a small art gallery , The work by a women named Rebecca Rawbacker was on display . I was blown away by the rawness of here work, she was doing theses faces in oil sticks and i could see that she used her fingers to create the works…i was blown away!.. The following week i found out where her studio was and decided that i had to meet her. Walking into here studio changed my life, the place was filled with these incredible faces from large to small, her color pallet has limited but what she did was killer! apron meeting her i was really nervous, to me it was like meeting a movie star but after awhile we just started talking about painting and what not and it was great. we have been friends now for 30 years.
later that month i signed up for some art classes at a local collage and it was there that i met Dr Donald parks a well known artist and teacher , I didn’t get much out of the class, drawing bowls of fruit was a complete waste of time to me. I saw no value in it so i sucked it up but didn’t go back after the first semester. What i did get out of it was this bus trip that we took to the MOMA.. It was there that i saw the works by de kooning and pollack that really blew me away!..Here i was in this great temple filled with the works by these men who had created the greatest paintings that i have ever seen. it was there work that was gasoline i needed to start painting.
When i got back i convinced my friend, Vikki to rent me her garage for a studio . I learned how to make my own canvas and started working, I was not and still am not interested in art, i wanted to be a painter like pollack i wanted the painting to stand on its own, meaning distracts the viewer from the reality of what he is seeing. Each person that sees it should have there own experience .I wanted big bold colors, abstract forms to be twisted and entangled to create it’s own chaos.
I had two group shows the following 2 years. In 1990 i left the military and moved back home, i continued painting a little but soon moved to Baltimore for a short time. in 1992 i moved to Harrisburg and still painted from time to time.in 1997 i had a group show at the historical art society , i sold 1 painting but the whole process i felt was phony . Im not that find of artist, I’m a painter so after that i never when back.
In that same year i quit my job as a chef and wanted to be a full time Antiques dealer, Mid century Modern design was my new passion and i have been doing it ever since. I never gave up painting.