EDUCATION

1987 – MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1985 – BFA Maryland Institute College of Art

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016 – Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL
2015 – Brian Morris Gallery, New York, NY
2014 – Elder Art Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2013 – Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL
2011 – Elder Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2011 – Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
2009 – Pool Art Fair, New York, NY
2008 – Artist’s Project, Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
2008 – Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 – Artist’s Project, Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
2006 – Uncle Freddy’s Gallery, Highland, IN
2004 – South Suburban College, South Holland, IL
2003 – Uncle Freddy’s Gallery, Hammond, IN
2002 – Century Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001 – So Hyun Gallery, New York, NY
1996 – Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 – University Club, Chicago, IL
1991 – Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL
1990 – Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL
1990 – Illinois State Museum, Lockport
1987 – Steiner Gallery, Chicago, IL

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015 – Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2015 – Brian Morris Gallery at Salon Zurcher, Paris
2015 – Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL, “Roots”
2015 – Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ, MICA, “Then and Now”
2015 – Family Ties, Dallas, TX
2014 – Second Family, New York, NY
2014 – Formerly Pocket Utopia, New York, NY
2014 – Novella Gallery, New York, NY
2014 – HKJB at Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY
2012 – White Box Gallery, New York, NY
2010 – Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, London Art Fair
2010 – Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL, At Art Chicago
2010 – Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, At Art Chicago
2009 – Jonathon Cooper Gallery, London, London Art Fair
2009 – Home Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 – Highland Park Art Center, Highland Park, IL
2006 – Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2005 – Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 – Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004 – Art Chicago, Navy Pier
2004 – Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 – Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 – Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001 – SAIC Gallery 2, Chicago, IL
2001 – So Hyun Gallery, New York, NY
2000 – North Park Univ. Carlson Tower Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000 – Post Office Gallery, Inverness, NS, Canada
1989-90 Illinois State Museum, Lockport, IL/Chicago, IL

Throughout my years as a painter one consistency has been that when I go to a place I make art from what I see around me. I’ve learned to think of it as channeling the spirit of that place. In the Fall of 2011 I moved to New York, and over the course of the year and a half my work has shifted from organic nature based and gestural paintings to images dealing with containment and with sharper more geometric forms. I’ve started utilizing masked and taped edges, something I never did prior to this. Part of this has been a conscious choice too to engage with new art being made now as opposed to my historic dialog with the art of the museums. In many ways my practice over the years was monk-like in the sense of being about being alone, in retreat and inner reflection. I think that’s why I always responded to Western images of saints in the wilderness and Chinese paintings of scholars in natural retreat. In contrast to that kind of self-seriousness however, I’ve begun to expand my visual vocabulary by integrating more of a casual aethetic, not worrying so much about each painting, or feeling the need to spell everything out. This translates to my trusting the viewer more to put the parts together, make the connections in the parts of my paintings and to make up their own stories. These decisions are about social engagement for me, celebrating that I’m part of the culture and the world I live in instead of always trying to escape from it.

The other thing I like about the masking and taping off is that it creates visual jumps and ambiguities in the space of the painting. For me this feels closer to how I see and experience the world; selectively and in bits and pieces. It also conveys more of a dream-like quality, like the ones I have where I’m trying to find my way back from where I came through some many chambered interior, forested landscape, or on trains and subways; but I can’t because everything has changed. This is very much like the experience of painting, especially as it relates to my desire to build the painting as an analogy for emotional and spiritual experience. What I mean by that is that my paintings have always been an attempt to recreate and convey peak experiences; that moment when something I see in the world feels supercharged, magical, more than just the everyday reality of this world. This is why I always carry a sketchbook wherever I go. As soon as I begin to draw what I see however, the process of transformation begins as I need to choose and selct which elements best convey that magic feeling. After that I usually begin the paintings by looking at one or more of my quick drawings; by then there’s already at least two removes from what I actually saw (more when I’ve processed the drawings). From there I let the painting guide me to what it wants to be; I think of listening to the painting as a combination of active meditation and lucid dreaming. There’s a statement by Matisse that resonates for me, roughly paraphrased, that his paintings are about the condensation of feeling rather than the heat of the moment. There’s also a passage from Borges that I’ve carried around in my mind for years, fingering it and smoothing it like a stone I’m carrying in my pocket; in it he describes a statue in an ancient stone circle as ‘could be a dog or could be a horse.’ That kind of ambiguity, magic and mystery is the essence of what drives me creatively. After that it is my desire that my paintings engage the imagination and feeling of the viewer; that those looking at my work will create their own story about what is going on and what the painting is about.