About the Artist:
Personal Statement:
I was fifteen when my dad shared with me photographs from his trips to Guatemala and introduced me to a 35mm camera. Inspired by my dad and the work of W. Eugene Smith, I began to document that which I thought mattered in the world and never stopped. Throughout my career, I have made personal and political statements with my work, documented events, places and people that touched my soul, and experimented with visual narratives derived from my imagination. I am in love with all aspects of photography and mixed media, but specifically with the way the visual world challenges us to contemplate more and find profound meaning in the ordinary.
Though my images are now mostly made with digital cameras, I still work with analog processes, and I continue to combine the photographic medium with the hands on visual resolutions of collage and mixed media. The idea of “taking” a little piece of the world, extracting it from its overall place, and preserving it forever as a physical memory fascinates me, as well as the process of looking, examining visual possibilities, and responding to them. The simple process of looking through a camera’s viewfinder has taught me to really see.
I was blessed to obtain a teaching position at St. John’s University early in my career. My students taught me more about the world and how others see it and that served to inform my work in ways that I could never imagine. I still treasure their enthusiasm and creative approaches, though much has changed in the university climate since I started in the late 80’s. My photographic career has basically been the teaching, extraction and presentation of the world through my viewfinder, one series, (or class), after another, often working on multiple ideas at once.
To date my work has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and internationally in Spain, France, Taiwan, Italy and Columbia. Exhibition venues include several New York City galleries, The Fogg Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art of Miami, the Parthenon in Nashville, Musee D'Art Moderne in France, Centro Colombo-Americano in Colombia and the Queens Museum of Art. I am humbled to have representation in several museum and private collections including the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Islip Art Museum, and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.
A project that I still consider one of my most satisfactory accomplishments is the decade long documentary of the mothers and work of MOMMAS House, which is not yet included in my website as I wanted time to pass in order to protect their privacy; but the work had purpose and accomplished something positive, which is my ultimate goal as an artist/photographer. My career has also blessed me with the opportunities to lecture and write on the medium of photography and I continue to actively use the photographic medium as a way of contemplating personal and observed moments.
Art making…and life, for that matter, have similar objectives. They both evolve and improve when we aim to grow and learn from experiences that come from doing the work, putting it out there, and never giving up.
Professional CV available upon request.
I was fifteen when my dad shared with me photographs from his trips to Guatemala and introduced me to a 35mm camera. Inspired by my dad and the work of W. Eugene Smith, I began to document that which I thought mattered in the world and never stopped. Throughout my career, I have made personal and political statements with my work, documented events, places and people that touched my soul, and experimented with visual narratives derived from my imagination. I am in love with all aspects of photography and mixed media, but specifically with the way the visual world challenges us to contemplate more and find profound meaning in the ordinary.
Though my images are now mostly made with digital cameras, I still work with analog processes, and I continue to combine the photographic medium with the hands on visual resolutions of collage and mixed media. The idea of “taking” a little piece of the world, extracting it from its overall place, and preserving it forever as a physical memory fascinates me, as well as the process of looking, examining visual possibilities, and responding to them. The simple process of looking through a camera’s viewfinder has taught me to really see.
I was blessed to obtain a teaching position at St. John’s University early in my career. My students taught me more about the world and how others see it and that served to inform my work in ways that I could never imagine. I still treasure their enthusiasm and creative approaches, though much has changed in the university climate since I started in the late 80’s. My photographic career has basically been the teaching, extraction and presentation of the world through my viewfinder, one series, (or class), after another, often working on multiple ideas at once.
To date my work has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and internationally in Spain, France, Taiwan, Italy and Columbia. Exhibition venues include several New York City galleries, The Fogg Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art of Miami, the Parthenon in Nashville, Musee D'Art Moderne in France, Centro Colombo-Americano in Colombia and the Queens Museum of Art. I am humbled to have representation in several museum and private collections including the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Islip Art Museum, and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.
A project that I still consider one of my most satisfactory accomplishments is the decade long documentary of the mothers and work of MOMMAS House, which is not yet included in my website as I wanted time to pass in order to protect their privacy; but the work had purpose and accomplished something positive, which is my ultimate goal as an artist/photographer. My career has also blessed me with the opportunities to lecture and write on the medium of photography and I continue to actively use the photographic medium as a way of contemplating personal and observed moments.
Art making…and life, for that matter, have similar objectives. They both evolve and improve when we aim to grow and learn from experiences that come from doing the work, putting it out there, and never giving up.
Professional CV available upon request.
