The Expressive Primitive Narrative Series was produced as a reaction to my previous formal geometric abstraction and architecture-based sculpture. This work challenged the notion of my foundation training that work must be permanent. Stone, concrete, steel and bronze gave way to detritus, sticks, and other mundane discards. A literal narrative replaced formal geometric abstraction. I grappled with meaning and content, creating a very simple literal narrative language. The body of work was documented and left to self- destruct. It was executed over a summer in Skowhegan Maine.
The Expressive Urban Narrative Series was produced as a reaction to a new urban environment, 1980’s Brooklyn, New York. It continued a primitive construction esthetic developed at Skowhegan that evolved with inclusion of industrial urban waste. This work also reflected a move from an idyllic southern California beach setting to an unheated coldwater loft in crime plagued 1980’s Southside Williamsburg. Sunlit pastel colors transmuted to tar blacks and blood reds.
Dante was impetus and angst was the prevalent theme.
Urban Narrative evolved with the time and situation, organic materials morphed to industrial materials in minimal forms. Marriage and the birth of my first daughter brought other changes in the work I was making. My wife and I both worked and shared domestic duties. The focus of my work was domestic. Folded clothing, stacked dishes took the forefront, shoes and socks followed. I combined items worn and used by people to create situation narratives. Humor and irony play an important role in this work. Simple iconic forms draw attention to the particular objects to stress the idea.
Shoes
Shoes have been a prominent part of the Urban Narrative. There is such a prominence that I think it needs it’s own section. This section is a shoe boutique.
Once I took notice of the shoe phenomena in the city I acquired huge amounts. At the time in Brooklyn there were many empty lots and much strewn garbage. I began to carry bags with me at all times because shoes could be found everywhere: Williamsburg, Manhattan, the upper east side or west side, they were uptown, downtown, cross-town. they were in Greenpoint, Bushwick, Long Island City, and Sunnyside. I spoke to friends and colleagues about my use of shoes and they did indeed continue to proliferate. People gave me single shoes, bags of shoes, part truckloads of shoes. Shoes were the beginning of using found objects as objects with content rather then just form or texture. Larger sculptures came first. I began cutting them in these works and then there were parts of shoes that became quick vignettes.
Drawing
Drawing has always served different purposes for me. As a sculptor it enables me to see, feel and discover form and experiment with form in space. It is manual visual thinking. Drawing has been a relaxing entity of it’s own for my pleasure and joy. The drawings here are a wide variety that echo thoughts and emotions. I attempt to elevate the mundane to a heroic state through a direct, simply composed observational method. At times abstraction has served me. I have had no problem moving back and forth from representation and abstraction, usually organic abstraction. Drawing media seduce me, the organic quality of charcoal, the slithering wetness of ink; the transparency to opacity of water media like watercolor and gauche all excites me.
Body
The body has been a recurring subject in my work. I use the body the same way I use objects that people use to reference ideas.
The Expressive Urban Narrative Series was produced as a reaction to a new urban environment, 1980’s Brooklyn, New York. It continued a primitive construction esthetic developed at Skowhegan that evolved with inclusion of industrial urban waste. This work also reflected a move from an idyllic southern California beach setting to an unheated coldwater loft in crime plagued 1980’s Southside Williamsburg. Sunlit pastel colors transmuted to tar blacks and blood reds.
Dante was impetus and angst was the prevalent theme.
Urban Narrative evolved with the time and situation, organic materials morphed to industrial materials in minimal forms. Marriage and the birth of my first daughter brought other changes in the work I was making. My wife and I both worked and shared domestic duties. The focus of my work was domestic. Folded clothing, stacked dishes took the forefront, shoes and socks followed. I combined items worn and used by people to create situation narratives. Humor and irony play an important role in this work. Simple iconic forms draw attention to the particular objects to stress the idea.
Shoes
Shoes have been a prominent part of the Urban Narrative. There is such a prominence that I think it needs it’s own section. This section is a shoe boutique.
Once I took notice of the shoe phenomena in the city I acquired huge amounts. At the time in Brooklyn there were many empty lots and much strewn garbage. I began to carry bags with me at all times because shoes could be found everywhere: Williamsburg, Manhattan, the upper east side or west side, they were uptown, downtown, cross-town. they were in Greenpoint, Bushwick, Long Island City, and Sunnyside. I spoke to friends and colleagues about my use of shoes and they did indeed continue to proliferate. People gave me single shoes, bags of shoes, part truckloads of shoes. Shoes were the beginning of using found objects as objects with content rather then just form or texture. Larger sculptures came first. I began cutting them in these works and then there were parts of shoes that became quick vignettes.
Drawing
Drawing has always served different purposes for me. As a sculptor it enables me to see, feel and discover form and experiment with form in space. It is manual visual thinking. Drawing has been a relaxing entity of it’s own for my pleasure and joy. The drawings here are a wide variety that echo thoughts and emotions. I attempt to elevate the mundane to a heroic state through a direct, simply composed observational method. At times abstraction has served me. I have had no problem moving back and forth from representation and abstraction, usually organic abstraction. Drawing media seduce me, the organic quality of charcoal, the slithering wetness of ink; the transparency to opacity of water media like watercolor and gauche all excites me.
Body
The body has been a recurring subject in my work. I use the body the same way I use objects that people use to reference ideas.