Early Life and Training

I was born in 1947 and grew up on Long Island and have been painting all my life. By the time I was six or seven, I had been drawing for some time. My chosen subjects were abstract organic shapes, which I carefully colored in black, brown, navy and purple crayon. My teacher organized a meeting with the school principal and my mother to find out if I was depressed or had some other problems. I started using yellow, red and orange when I was at school, which seemed to appease them. It did the trick. I had developed a unique visual vocabulary that was totally nonverbal and difficult for others to understand. I was in my own world.

I went to Northport High School then Syracuse University where I studied chemistry and fine art. In the late 1960’s I collaborated with Barry Bryant on a series of street paintings in Boston and New York protesting politics, the Vietnam War and pollution which resulted in misdemeanor charges – and an order to repaint the street.  Sadly, these are the things that I still protest about. Another public art project, much later on, was posting screen printed images of my heroes Chief Joseph and the Dalai Lama in public spaces on Long Island. 

1970’s and 1980’s

In 1968 I moved to Florence where I lived in the attic of a 13th century basilica. I taught myself to draw by copying Leonardo drawings in the Uffizi in the mornings and then sold them in the evening on the Ponte Vecchio. I spent the 1970’s between Italy and London, where I was represented by the Zella 9 and Blackheath Galleries. I also worked with Bernard Pratt of The Retigraphic Society on several suites of limited edition screen prints. In 1976 I moved to Los Angeles where I was represented by the Artworks Gallery.

In 1979 I returned to New York to continue painting and running a silk screen studio producing limited edition prints which were distributed by John Szoke. 

The influences on my work are many and varied; Renaissance drawing, popular culture, television and technology – and, of course, science. In New York I was represented by and showed at various galleries including,  Jayne Baum, Betty Levin, A Clean Well-Lighted Place on Bleeker Street, at the Heckscher Museum on Long Island and The Artists’ Proof in East Hampton.

After a serious motorcycle accident in 1995, I gave up screen printing to concentrate on painting. Between 2006-2008 I lived in Marrakesh but continued to be represented by Sears Peyton in New York until 2016.

Activities

1998

Dalai Lama/ Chief Joseph project, Long Island

1971

X NIXON, Information show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NYitself. It always does.

1970

OXYGEN, New York Auto Show, NY Coliseum

1969

Street Paintings (in collaboration with Barry Bryant)
Pink Street, Boston, MA
Black Street, Boston

Collections Include

• American Express

• AT&T

• Burmah Oil,London

• Citibank

• Glenda Jackson

• General Electric

• Roman Polanski

• Scotts Riads, Marrakesh

• Greg and Rosie Lock

• Michael Frayn

• Jo Paley

• Warburg Pincus

• Wiley Publishing

• De Cordova Museum