Artist Statement

I am a New York based artist who creates paintings and constructions that observe people and spaces encountered during daily activities that are usually unnoticed and quite beautiful. My work explores how we see ourselves and what surrounds us. Creating specific conditions of light and space, my work offers an observational moment of pause, fixing attention on the radiance of ordinary moments.

Currently I am creating multipart work, large paintings installed side by side that read together. The work is non-narrative, acting like verses in a poem, the poetic compression makes a vivid and enveloping presence.

Throughout my career, I have sought to create work that has a sensory, tactile presence with a luminous depth. I use Plexiglass in a variety of formats to create both intimately scaled and mural-size works, in each instance aiming to establish a spatial and psychological connection with the viewer. To do this, I employ a unique process which I developed of painting black India ink onto the surface of sanded plexiglass. Slowly and deliberately I build layers of delicate ink washes creating soft grays and deep blacks, while alternately removing areas of ink with sandpaper to yield a radiant white. Refracted light is held within the body of each pane of plexiglass, bringing about a mysteriously layered presence. The paintings embody a huge compression of time and attention. The overt materiality of the work; ink made of carbon soot and water, plexiglass made of extruded acrylic, steel screws, contrasts with and heightens the atmospheric effect.

Since May 2020, I have worked on a series of portraits of individuals who died in the pandemic. My source images are drawn from photographs submitted by families to accompany the obituaries of their loved ones published by The New York Times under the heading “Those We’ve Lost.” Until this series all of my images were sourced from my own photographs. Here, I am transforming the original published photograph by cropping it to a square headshot, then painting the portrait using a technique of black India ink and water on the surface of translucent waxed rice paper. It requires attention and focus with no opportunity for correction. Instead of being overwhelmed by the numbers being reported, my intention is to offer an experience that will humanize what we have all gone through. These particular people, from all over the world, different ages, ethnicities, professions, really seeing them, in their specificity, allows you to feel their human commonality of our experience.

I have presented eight solo exhibitions at the Kim Foster Gallery in New York between 1998-2015. Select other exhibitions include: The CICA Museum in South Korea, 2021. The Holden Gallery at The University of North Carolina, in 2020. The Piazza di Pietra Gallery in Rome, The Cello Gallery in London, Site:Brooklyn in New York and The Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut, in 2019. The Katonah Museum of Art in New York and The Naples Art Association in Florida. in 2018. The VETS Gallery in Rhode Island, in 2017. The Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana, The Axis Gallery in California and The University of North Carolina in Deleware, in 2016. The Visual Arts Center in New Jersey, in 2014. Art Miami in 2014, 2013 and Art Chicago in 2009 and 2008. Flowers East Gallery in London, in 2002. The Albright Knox Art Gallery in New York, in 2001 and 1997. The National Academy Museum in New York, in 1998. The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, in 1996. I was the recipient of a grant from The New York State Foundation for the Arts in 2001 and I am an ongoing studio recipient from The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts starting in 1999. I received a Norfolk Fellowship from Yale University and a BA from Bennington College in 1977. My work is in private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Dallas, Pittsburg, Canada and the UK.