Opening Reception: Sunday, January 9th, 12:00-4:00PM
*Snow Date for Opening Reception: Sunday, January 16th, 12:00-4:00PM
The one word that might describe my work best is : juxtapose/juxtaposition. A lot of people find this word pretentious and over-used in art, but I do not, inasmuch as it often involves a silly, absurd, and nonsensical activity. As a process of thinking and making my work is much like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, or it can be trying to follow the logical conclusion to an idea or series of ideas, either all at once, or one at a time presented alongside one another but connected.
I like things... or objects. I see things/objects as representational of humanity and at times acting as our surrogate. Human made objects have in them the life-force of our needs and desires. We made them and now they make us. Natural things/objects have a life of their own that we relate
to or with, and we often embody them in some kind of way.
My process also navigates the in-between, using whatever material, construction, and markmaking means necessary to convey the idea (even if intentionally unclear or indirect). The work can be in varying degrees of realism/naturalism, illustration, abstraction, and/or conceptualism
(what isn’t conceptual?), in order to best serve the artwork. This series of works maintain many of these aspects but are intentionally direct in their approach.
EDUCATION
– M.F.A. in Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island, 2001
– B.A. in Art, Central Connecticut State University, Connecticut, 1999
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
– Parsonʼs School for Design, New York, NY 2009–present
– Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut, 2015–present
– Bristol Community College, Fall River, Massachusetts, 2005–11
– RISD, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2008
– Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 2000–06
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
– Artist Assistant to Sol LeWitt and the LeWitt Collection, Chester, Connecticut, 1997-2005
– Gallery Director, The Nancy Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2001–02
CURATORIAL WORK
– Heavy Metal Typography (The use of Blackletter and Art Nouveau typefaces, its evolution to contemporary lettering, and the symbolic imagery that accompanies it.) Elihu Burritt Library, New Britain CT, January-February 2017
– Locker Room Culture (Strategy, Play and Commentary in Sports and Art) Grimshaw-Gudewicz Gallery, Fall River, MA, March 2015
PUBLICATIONS
– Art New England magazine: Emerging Artists of the Year: 10 Notable Artists List, March- April 2020
– Contemporary magazine, issue 65, pg. 77, review of The Very Rich Hours, Jill Conner, 2004
Art in New England magazine, October/November 2003, pg. 21, regional reviews Steve Starger