My current work comes from my current 3 year residency in the South Pacific rainforest of Costa Rica.

I have titled the series "Overlooking the Underworld...Tales from the Costa Rican Rainforest”

I began by hiking/wandering through the jungle, collecting rain water for my medium. I then put down small watercolor sketches while trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible and document the dynamic movement of life in the rainforest. I took these sketches back to my studio, and through abstraction created this series of small watercolors. I wound up with about 150 pieces. After editing, I have 19 works I’d like to expand. To accomplish this, I need to return to the states and use these small works as the catalyst for big paintings on canvas.

My plan is to return to the San Francisco Bay area, rent a studio and start painting these visions, Big Big Big!!! I am trying to get funding for this project to cover studio space and supplies. I am using 1 year as my target for completing the project.

I hope to provide a pathway through these abstractions so others can feel and share my experience of the time I spent in the jungle. I also hope to bring the excitement and magic of the rainforest to kids through lectures at local schools. Most of the exposure kids have to the jungle comes through descriptive/realistic images. They need the magic that abstraction provides.

My previous series "Ghosts of My Father" 1998/2004 arose from my experience of being raised in a home tainted by the specter of mccarthyism, and of my fathers role in the New York theater. I used actual WPA documents from his plays that I downloaded and scanned from the library of Congress website creating collages from those actual and digitized images. I consider these pieces to be "Wallscapes"

In my work I am always reacting to the omnipresent clashing of two worlds (and, or view points). Old vs. new/ rough vs. smooth/ foundation and empire stuff (to borrow from Isaac Asimov) etc...Again I feel this partly comes about as a reaction to my fathers blacklisting and the effect it had on me as a child and now as a mature artist. It was a big time clash of two worlds. I also draw upon the influence of my musical and culinary background in achieving my artistic vision.

Rhythm, Nature, and Flavor have always served as my guides, and I in turn have always tried to be a good passenger.

I cannot fathom any path that does not stem from creation.

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