I seek to dump out of my head images that come from what I see, read and feel to encourage reactions in the viewer. My work reflects my introspective nature and my other roles of therapist and neuro-scientist. As a scientist, I use advanced imaging techniques to study the effects of diabetes on the the functioning and structure of the brain to better understand how diabetes influences our behavior and emotions. For the past thirty-five years my artistic interest has been drawn to representations of imagined people, landscapes, and abstractions rendered with wood and paint. I create to release images that my mind collects in the course of my daily life and to communicate with the people who see my work.
My figurative paintings typically depict isolated individuals trying to make contact and/or comfort one another. Commonly, I paint only part of the human figure. Typically I will focus on eyes and hands as the parts of our bodies that, to me, most capture our emotions. Fingers and hair often double as landscape elements. Over time I have added background and decreased the size of the figures to emphasize the external world. These shifting perspectives have been guided by my interest in Japanese and Chinese scroll paintings and the sculpted figures of Magdalena Abakanowicz. Eventually I stripped out the figures to access the universe beyond and convey a dialog between is strange beauty and the world we inhabit.
I typically use oil paint and work mainly on plywood panels, wood boards and MDF board. Sometimes I develop ideas for paintings at the lumberyard where I pick the plywood panels based on the images that I see in the grain. My people are usually shaped and placed in awkward positions. I choose colors to enhance the intensity in each situation. I often apply paint thickly and quickly, pushing myself to get the paint out in torrent. I may also drip, pour or spit and apply pieces of encrusted paint. Each strep is only a partly planned venture that may change direction as I return to the work many times to build on each “draft” until the work feels complete. The textures developed through these stages is an important outcome in each work. I create works that are blends of representation to convey emotions. I move back and forth between close-ups to views of my subjects and views from a great distance.
I also create abstract work. These pieces were inspired by visiting Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Temples and seeing fragments of church icons in Italy. I make painted wood constructions, which explore the interaction of color with three-dimensional planes. With this work as a foundation, I began using lumber I had placed outside to encourage decay in order to capture the shapes and textures created by this process. I enhance these images by chopping and chiseling the surfaces, applying asphalt, and adding elements such as rusted nails. In many of these pieces, I am trying to capture the feel of timbers used in the shrines I have seen.
I take the ideas derived from my sculptures to inform the ways I frame my paintings. I use lumber, e.g. 2 by 4'-s, metal pipe and other common building materials to provide a structural environment, which encourages an added dialogue with the canvas and wood panels on which I paint.
Education:
1961-1965- B.A. cum laude Yale University
1965-1969- M.D. University of Chicago Medical School
1969-1970- Internship Kaiser Hospital of San Francisco
1970-1973- Psychiatry Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
1980- present- I am largely self-trained as an artist through careful observation of my surroundings.
Currently,
Artist
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Professor, NYU Long Island School of Medicine
Exhibits include:
Solo:
2004-The Kane Gallery, Concord, MA
2016-Juried Exhibition, Gallery of the Harrison Public Library, Harrison, NY
2023 (upcoming)- Juried Exhibition, Gallery of the Irvington Public Library, Irvington, NY
Group:
1999- Harvard Medical School Group Show, Boston, MA
2000- Harvard Medical School Group Show, Boston, MA
2001- Juried Exhibit, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
2001- Art Space Group Show, Maynard, MA
2002- Juried Exhibit, Hot Colors, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
2002- Small Works, Art Space - Maynard MA
2005- Group Show, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
2005- Juried Exhibit, Mind Space, Art Institute of New England, Brookline, MA
2014- Katonah Library, Katonah, New York
2015- Juried Exhibit, Close to the Edge, Pound Ridge Library, Pound Ridge, NY
2015- Northern Westchester Hospital Art Exhibit, Mt Kisco, NY
2017- Small Works Big Ideas, Blue Door Art Center, Yonkers, NY
2017- Northern Westchester Hospital Are Exhibit, Mt Kisco, NY
2018- Artists of Norther Westchester, Juried Exhibition, Croton, NYcollege,
2018- Order/Disorder, Juried Exhibition, Hankin Gallery, Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY
2018- 13th National Juried Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York City, NY
2021- Katonah Museum of Art Online Exhbitioin, Katonah, NY
2021- The Circle, New Rochelle Art Association, New Rochelle, NY
2022- Come As You Are, Juried Exhibtion, Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut,