BEGINNINGS
From Sketches to Museum Show- case: Shoosty Bugs, An Art Infestation In 2007, a quick sketch of a bug ignited a creative spark. Recovering from injury, I was in a silly mood and made a simple watercolor of a beetle. I was encouraged to make more. Louis Pasteur, the discoverer of penicillin, said: Chance favors the prepared mind. I agree. By this time, I had been painting for almost 50 years. If it wasn’t for my training that tiny sketch would have been forgotten. Instead, I made a few more and built a series. They were loose sketches. What made them different was the use of patterns painted into their bodies. It is the combination of these realistic creatures styled with antique textile patterns that made them striking. As a child, I was a stamp collector. Col- lecting stamps naturally led to organizing my art, eventually becoming The Catalog Raisonné of my work. It is a collection of every piece I have ever made. Flipping through these books is like entering a time machine. It starts with the crayon draw-
ings I made at age 7, in 1965, and current- ly spans 65 years to 2023. So far, it is three volumes and 1,600 pages. I make a lot of art. I do not know of any other living artist who has taken the time to document all of it. It is a remarkable achievement, and has become an invaluable resource that has proven instrumental in attracting the attention of key figures in the art world. In 2022, acting as curator, Jennifer McInnes Coolidge propelled my work into the spotlight. Recognizing the unique potential of the bugs, she proposed a solo show. At the time, I was mastering vector drawing on the iPad Pro. Vectors allow me to create scalable, high-quality imag- es, perfect to fill up large spaces. The iPad gave me the freedom to do this anywhere. December of 2022, I flooded Mills Gal- lery in Orlando with a series of large-for- mat prints of giant bugs. On the show’s fi- nal day, Zach Zacharias, senior curator of The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS), in Daytona, Florida, was captivated by my work. His enthusiasm led to a relationship with the museum and the opportunity of a lifetime, Shoosty Bugs, An Art Infesta- tion, April 5th, 2025 - Jan. 4th, 2026.
Shoosty 2007
Royal Goliathus Beetle Stamp 2023
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