BIO

I am a self-taught artist guided by a principle that openness and self-awareness translate into a creative practice; to elicit latent emotions and memories and express them visually. To showcase this principle, I leverage the viewer’s subconscious recognition of familiar objects to address the issues of legitimacy and subjectivity.  Different modalities, techniques, and color patterns are used to draw out the emotional connection with the objects, many of which are relevant to my past. 

My work frequently incorporates common objects, salvaged items, refuse, and other found materials into different pieces, and I often utilize woodcuts to facilitate color transfer.  As much as possible, I integrate the physical attributes of the tools that make the art, into the art. 

I’ve always appreciated a wide spectrum of art from the early Renaissance to war propaganda to graffiti, and much of my work embodies the juxtaposition of my interest and these influences.  Beginning at an early age, exposure to these various art forms, techniques, and cultural expressions began to shape my views on balance and relativism.  For me, a successful visualization of an idea, memory, and emotion is about the awareness of the materials used to create the subject because the artwork and the creative process are equals in the outcome.   

Frequent themes in my work include flags, flowers, hearts, and other common symbols, most of which are closely associated to childhood memories of family, friends, and community.  Significant influences are sourced to early exposure to street art and pop art, and counterculture of the 80-90s in New York City and Montreal.  Although I am non-conformist, an outsider, a self-taught self-indulging practitioner, it’s accurate to characterize some of my work as derivative of assembly art where material objects or images are stacked within the work to represent the philosophy of process and personal history.  Many of my works carry a broad spectrum of color, with the embodiment of words across uneven or collaged surfaces, rendered with stencil to further explore the surface with the viewer. The use of juxtaposition in my works supports the animation of images and represents the embodied of my connection to the work.   

My Flag Series is one notable extended body of work in which I use the image of a flag to showcase different interpretations that familiar objects possess.  The Flag Series has become central to my philanthropic work.  Original works from my Flag Series are housed in different federal buildings including the Department of Agriculture and Department of Interior.  

Pieces of art from my other bodies of work are privately collected across the United States and I frequently make pieces available through Artists in Middleburg, a non-profit in northern Virginia that uses funding and resources to provide and promote art education in early childhood development.   

Originally from central New Jersey, much of my life has been on the U.S. East Coast.  I also spent time living in Florence, Italy as a student and translator, and subsequently in Naples, Italy where I resided as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar conducting research.  I hold two advanced degrees in international relations and economics, and work in the public sector.