Artist Statement

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to creating visual art. In 1987, that need and love brought me from a small town north of Boston to New York City to pursue my B.F.A. at Cooper Union (A’91).  As a student, I drew inspiration from Fluxus and assemblage artists, and created time-based, performative installations both inside and outside the walls of academia, as well as surrealist inspired objects including furniture and hand tools. Running parallel to this activity along the way has always been collage. This has proven to be one of the most accessible, portable, and visually engaging medium in which for me to work. 

My most recent collages are amalgam of history, Americana, material culture, dreams, personal life events, and minutiae magnified. Each piece has its own visual density, interwoven with threads created from a diversity of sources and styles. I find inspiration and source material in commercial printing, and utilize everything from greeting cards, LP covers, old photographs, magazines, Tin Pan Alley sheet music, documents, and ephemera found in flea markets. Subjects that are currently engaging me include vintage science fiction, aeronautical engineering, astronomy, architecture, nature, hunting, sports, fashion, jewelry, the occult, and domestic/family life. 

Many of my pieces evoke memories of my own 1970s suburban childhood, but are often mixed with printed matter from a much earlier time. There are elements of nostalgia in my artwork, but I also try to challenge viewers not to become too comfortable with that. Although my earlier work tends to be a little more subtle and quiet, my more recent pieces lean into being confrontational and dense mash ups of seemingly disparate images. Through a process of free association and also finding deeper, underlying patterns and connections, these recombined fragments end up being close neighbors and accidental storytellers in ways divorced from their original meaning as singular or cohesive images.

In 2014, I created all of the original artwork for my debut solo EP, “Burning House.”  Since moving to Nashville in 2016, I’ve dedicated myself to developing my practice and create new works. If you are interested in commissioning a customized collage, I invite you to be in touch for a conversation.