My formative years as a realist painter in college put me at odds with the prevailing views of the time concerning painting. Realism was thought to be dead. Anyone who pursued painting recognizable imagery was labeled a hack or worse.

At best I was tolerated. At worst, ignored.

Though defensive and insecure, I was undeterred in my passion for illusionism and narrative in painting. In the intervening years, the resurgence of realism, its embrace by a younger generation, and a generally more eclectic art world are wonderful developments!

In this most recent series of black-and-white oil paintings of interiors, I have left behind the saturated colors of my previous work in favor of a focus on light and its effect on objects. In these paintings, I strive to portray the energy of light as it plays hedonistically across an interior . . . bouncing, reflecting, defining.

I continue to use the interior as a metaphor for contemplation, stillness, and the exploration of beauty.