Biography / Press Information

Recent Exhibitions: 2005-2009: Gallery Saint Martin on display throughout the year 2004 Arabesques @ Gallery Saint Martin Solo Show 2004 Woodmere Museum Members Exhibit 2004 Plastic Club, Philadelphia "Small Wonders" Juried Exhibit

Bio:
I am an abstract painter who works primarily in the ancient art of encaustic painting, fusing wax, pigment, and oil to wooden panels and braced canvas. My paintings tend to be more and more abstract, creating almost transparent layers of disparate images, icons, and colors in an attempt to work through a concept or series of dream sequences.

I usually paint on relatively small supports, as the fusing of wax to panel is a very time-consuming and painstaking process, often requiring several days to fuse and temper the base coats of the theme. As the wax cools quickly, the brush must move from palette to panel swiftly. Each layer of wax is worked into the wooden panel with heat, tools, the palm of my hand; anything available to incise the marks, smooth or disrupt the surface, create the desired effect. Layer upon layer, the painting builds slowly, revealing itself to me at its own pace.

My love for encaustic painting started in 1999 when I attended a gallery opening for Barry Goldberg at Larry Becker in Philadelphia. The buttery soft fields of matte color spread across the canvas inspired me to explore this medium for myself, departing from what had been a mostly watercolor and pen & ink style. After working alone for close to a year, I attended a terrific encaustic workshop given by Michelle Marcuse, a local encaustic & textiles artist, which really inspired and improved my execution of the paintings.

I began working quickly with Encaustic, seeking out other artists working in this medium. I love meeting other artists working with Encaustic, seeking them out at shows, conferences, and online to discuss this painting form. Along this road, I've met some of the best people I know, and appreciate working with them and collaborating with them on best practices, safety issues, emerging technologies in new heated tools, etc.

My ongoing "Arabesque" series of paintings draw from a series of ink on paper arabesque drawings I have created over the years, but was never able to fully explore in watercolor or acrylic. Working with encaustic allows me the freedom to lay out the overall design on the wooden support, sketch the arabesque figures onto a fused beeswax ground with oil stick, and begin painting the layers of color to create the work. I work very quickly and carve back the wax to reveal layers of color underneath the curves and lines of the arabesque design and to more precisely define the figures hidden in the curves. The control I now have over the medium has allowed me to increase the size and complexity of my arabesque figures, creating more exciting and elaborate paintings.

My newest series of paintings is text-based, using content retrieved from my "SPAM" mailbox to create the work. Spam email messages are often written to advertise products and services that play on our fears, our desires, our self-doubt or thoughts of inadequacies. I really enjoy this process; taking something that would otherwise be discarded without a thought and elevating it to a place where it must be viewed, studied, and in some cases, loved.