<I:8> Graphite, acrylic on marble tablet, 12" x 8" (30.5 x 20.3cm)
As consumers of media, we are confronted on all sides by the uniformity of the repeated image and the forced consensus of what others determine to be reality. This has a training effect on the imagination and has forced a visual orthodoxy on us. In terms of the organic strangeness of reality, computer-generated imagery is inferior to the analog style of models, puppets and manipulated plastic forms that existed in the pre-photographic age. The very benefits of technology that enable vast amounts of imagery to be created quickly by digital formulae are what cause the bland, unconvincing uniformity of surface in computer generated images that work against their achieving verisimilitude to nature in the imagination of the viewer. There is a societal standard now that reality resemble these modern, digital-based forms to be considered real. The concept of reality is constantly updated to the newest technology and a forced stereotype has replaced each individuals’ unique perspective. The neuropathy that limits thought outside this stereotype is becoming greater in direct proportion to the visual vocabulary of the modern graphic/visual consumer. I think the sophistication of the digitally enhanced image is a crutch to the imagination when the only criteria to the truly captivating image should be its’ strangeness. Photography is not to blame for this new orthodoxy. It is only a technological tool. Rather the repetition by the media of the new video-based reality has brought about this change. Pre-digital imagery was symbolic but still considered as real as life to its contemporary viewers. They had be taught the acceptance of the photographic image as reality. I have been experimenting with imagery that is proto-realistic in nature. In reaction to the contemporary visual stereotypes, I am developing a neo-primitive classical art that is similar to Early Renaissance or the various styles of the Antique in its conception and execution, but not innocent of photography or contemporary environments. Enigmatic genre scenes, environmental and figurative subjects are presented to the viewer as my answer to what is real. Duality of interpretation comes into play when I present a painting of what looks like dolls in an interior. The viewer can ask if it is a realistic painting of dolls or a stylized painting of people. Surfaces are presented with layers of paint and varnish, sometimes cracked or worn, implying, on the one hand, that age has brought a patina to the painting and the viewer is looking back through time to a different concept of reality, or on the other, that there is no patina, only a mode of expression through marks and tones and the painting is an object, nature itself, rather than merely a representation of it.
EDUCATION
2001 MFA, University of Delaware 1994 CFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
SOLO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2002 J. Cacciola Gallery, New York, NY 2002 The Art Institute of Philadelphia, PA 2001 J. Cacciola Gallery, New York, NY 1998 Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York, NY 1996 "Fleisher Challenge Exhibition", Samual Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadephia Museum of Art
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 "F.U.E.L. Collection", Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA "New Talent Show", Gallery Henoch, New York, NY 2006 "Art 20", Gallery Henoch, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2005 "PAFA Fellowship Show", The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA 2004 "PAFA Fellowship Show", The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA 2001 "Thesis Exhibition", College Hall, University of Delaware, Newark, DE "US Artists", J. Cacciola Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2000 J. Cacciola Gallery, New York, NY 1999 J. Cacciola Gallery, New York, NY 1998 "US Artists", J. Cacciola Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Kennebunk River Club, Kennebunkport, ME 1996 Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York, NY 1994 Hollis Taggart Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1993 Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1992 Woodmere Art Museum, Chesnut Hill, PA
AWARDS
1999 Competitve Fellowship, MFA Program, University of Delaware 1994 Ware Travel Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Cook Prize for Drawing, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Garber Prize for Drawing, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1993 Cook Prize for Drawing, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Samuel David Cast Drawing Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Stanfield Scholarship, Boston, MA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Antiques and the Arts Weekly, pg40, April 17, 1998 The Philadelphia Inquirer, pg36, February 2, 1996, Edward J. Sozanski South Philadelphia Review, pg35, Febraury 15, 1996, Edward Higgins The Washington Post, Arts Section, December 24, 1994, Lee Fleming
