Where are you currently based?

Hoboken, NJ.

Describe your style in three words.
Empirical, Playful, Equivocal.

What led you to create your work, "The Poems”?
“The Poems” started out initially as a completely different painting, and underwent numerous iterations. I had, what I thought was a great idea for a painting, however, like most of my ideas, I quickly realized that it was going absolutely nowhere. I don’t particularly believe in “good ideas” in the first place, they usually feel like some kind of a trick to me, and it is funny that I still try to cling to them occasionally. I keep numerous false starts around the studio, such as this one. They sit in a corner, filled with an uncertain potential – it is different from the overwhelming breadth of a blank canvas, where there is not much to grab on to other than scale and material. These false starts and stuck middles, are rich with lost meaning - something that was new, and then has become old enough to become new again.

One day when I found myself struggling at the studio, I pulled out this piece and began painting a self portrait on it, with no particular objective in mind. As I got more interested, I began finding connections with the forms that were there previously, allowed them to guide me, and began discovering an entirely new piece that felt very engaging. It changed a lot as it proceeded, and the fact that it is on panel allowed me to alter its overall shape and surface. It led me to a painting that partakes in a conversation about the process itself of making art, and the sources of our decision making.

I am always captivated by the face, and am simultaneously highly uneasy of the strength and clarity of its presence. I find images that escape the confines of certainty to be mesmerizing, and the dogmatic presence of a literal meaning feels heavy to me. I often begin with a face, but then fight it, try to make it go away, just enough to broaden it, each time looking for a new way to do so. In this painting, the portrait was quite the battle ground for me, trying to both create it, and fight it at the same time.

Could you walk us through the concept behind your work, “The Poems”?
Making art can be a mystical process. Its sources are ambiguous, even when we try to anchor them in some explanation. Our two conjoined selves seem to participate in holding the pencil, but no one knows which one is the guiding force, and which one is decorative; maybe they are at odds with each other, or maybe they are symbiotically supporting the endeavor, I can't be certain. The results of our labors are never completed, never quite right, and always variable. The result is always in the process.

What have been the main sources of inspiration for your works?
The process of turning wandering thoughts into tangible objects that I can then witness and respond to becomes a captivating conversation for me, which allows me to digest all in life as it comes. The work is inspired by whatever is on my mind at the time, the things I’m trying to understand better. The resistance of matter, the way colors mate or bicker with each other, the way materials carry their gravity or reflect light, all become contributors to a debate that is so much more interesting in paint than just in my head.

Are there any other upcoming projects you would like to share with our readers?
I’m currently continuing to explore working on wood, and incorporating various materials into my paintings. A sturdy support, such as panel, allows for much freedom in altering the shape and configuration of the painting, as well as playing with dimensions that recede and emerge, which I find very interesting. I’m also exploring ways of letting the works detach from the wall, and create space in a different, more sculptural way.