2010 - 2015
Self Portrait wearing a Doo-Rag. Age 55
ARTIST STATEMENT
way to study persistently. My favorite way to learn is by watching videos while on a treadmill. I also thrive on any audio, especially podcasts; my favorite is Philosophize This! by Steven West. I could never get deep into Philosophy until these podcasts made it a fun exercise. I draw every day, especially if I go to a bar to listen to music. I don’t like to drink, and I especially don’t like wasting my time, but I love music. I love drawing while the music is playing. It makes me feel like a band member and keeps me sharp. It is also fun to show the band when they take a break. Years ago, when I first started drawing, I drew a lot from my imagination, but as I advanced, I almost exclusively drew from life. Drawing allows me to see things I otherwise would have missed. Following the path from eye to brain and down to my fingertips, every step runs through the filters of my mind. Invariably, my mind will bring parts of art history, modern media, and myth, especially if I draw at a museum earlier in the day. I use cubism frequently when describing moving figures, and I embrace mistakes. In fact, I encourage them. Mistakes are opportunities for my imagination. The best examples of these are my live drawings of musicians.
2010-2015 were extremely busy productive years. By this time, I had been working with my father for 40 years. Our established routine was to have lunch together every day. In 2012, he was diagnosed with Leukemia. Seven months later, he would be gone. I was torn up inside. A few days after his diagnosis, things got much worse. My son was diagnosed with BiPolar 1, and he needed extreme mental health care. We sent him to a facility in Idaho. He stayed there for two years. I had four kids, a wife, and a growing complex business. My life was a whirlwind. Yet, I accomplished a lot, including 16 major works of art and hundreds of drawings, with a few on silk. Plus, I published my first book called. The Horse Adjutant is the story of a survivor of Auschwitz. I was learning rapidly during this period, studying Computer Science and Art History. It was a non-stop adventure. Making art played a big part in my productivity. It gave me something joyful to work on, which is rewarding in and of itself. The key to all of this was finding my flow. My goal became simple: To move my thinking from Swiss cheese to Munster. It’s that easy. Swiss cheese has large gaps, and Munster has small gaps. My goal was to fill in the gaps in my learning. I found a
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