As my artistic background has been somewhat different from many, I will
attempt to show some of this development through my paintings, while
at the same time giving a statement of what I expect to achieve
through my art. Additional information is contained in my biography.
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Private CollectionAs a child in the 50's I drew frequently
with pencils, crayons and charcoal.
Subjects were most often ships, boats,
water, and people and buildings that
attend these. At school I was usually
the one chosen to do the posters for
various events. By the mid 60's I had
played Classical music, Jazz and
Popular music successfully, had studied
engineering, including technical drawing,
and had already experimented with
various forms of modern art. I later
came full circle, back to representational
work, then to marine and seascape.By the late 70's I was painting with oils
and had my first sale with "The Garden
of Quietness," which came out of
my years of philosophical studies and
in this case the Eastern belief of Taoism.
These were done mostly from the
imagination. By the early 80's, while
still continuing my studies about the
world and more, I was now painting
rather representationally with very thick
impastos usually on site and in nature.
Again water, boats, people and buildings predominated, but now somewhat
in the manner of Corot, Courbet and Boudin. "Serenity" is a prime example
of this period. These were often isolated moments, even meditative
moments, alone in front of nature. These were intense periods of painting
that I would describe as tension-filled, and emotionally draining. Yet,
thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable.In my scientific studies, I felt everything was being taken apart and examined
under a microscope. While with my painting, I felt it a very unifying experience.
Here I could address geology, natural history, and even human history
simultaneously. This somehow felt much more satisfying and in touch with my
own true nature. All of this continued through the mid 80's, with paintings of
local scenes and even some life and still life to improve my technique.
Paintings like "Happiness" were a unity of Seascape, Landscape, Interior,
Still Life and Floral.
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Synthesis
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Peaches
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Descartes
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Happiness
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From the latter half of the 80's on, my concentration returned to marine; most likely do to a combination of my early love for the subject and my spending more time near and on the water at that point in my life. It was during this period while practicing law that I again sailed a great deal and researched much about larger schooners and ships. It was one voyage I had in the early 90's on a schooner off the coast of Maine that brought me to such a point of awe of sailing ships and marine subjects in general that this became my life's work. I painted little else from then on besides marine subjects with only a modest number of landscapes, some including windmills and most others containing bodies of water of one variety or another, some with political and many with spiritual overtones.
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Artist's CollectionMy marine subjects at that point also began to take on these same political and spiritual connotations. This included environmental significance, once I realized the magnificence and nobility of marine subjects and the degree of harmony they had with our world.
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Private CollectionBy now I understood where I was most comfortable and although already well into my artistic career, I again returned to basics and studied for 3 years with Kiril Doron a former professor of painting at the University of Moscow. He paints in a Russian Impressionist style and my studies covered all the basics and then landscape and seascape. Although as my style developed, it became as much Hudson River School and Luminist as it was impressionist, particularly in the skies. I often included heavy impastos in the water and foreground land and rock formations. This unity of styles continues in my present work.
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Silver Evening 2001
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My way of "Seeing" is not intended to be with the eye alone, but with ALL the senses, as well as the intuition and emotions. Yet, my art is not so much "intended" by me. It most often just simply "is" a reconnecting, even a recreating, or what I like to call a SYNTHESIS of individualized elements into one perceived UNITY. This is not unique to me, alone, by any means. I believe it is the way most of us think every day and the way the thought process of humanity works in general, when it is working well or AT ALL. For instance, the new threads of scientific discovery, which are now being stretched to the extreme recesses of human understanding, MUST be synthesized back into society as positive and safe elements of everyday existence. They must become necessary elements of man's survival and major elements of our being able to resolve our differences and of our being able to live together in peace and harmony, and in tune with nature. This has not always been done consciously in the past. I feel we must learn to do so now. Actually, we have no choice!
A Haven for Wooden Hulls Sailor's Haven
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Further study with Christopher Blossom, Joseph McGurl, Don Demers and John Stobart has greatly assisted me in expressing these concepts and feelings in terms of Marine and Seascape, as in those paintings just above. In the end then, my marine and seascape work becomes not so much just an image of an interesting place or a beautiful boat, as it is a unifying and deeply felt philosophical statement about all that is around me, possibly only at the moment I am painting, or possibly about all moments.
The Black Peal
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