Life Is A Trip!

I was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York in 1946. In 1952 my family moved out to Westbury, Long Island where I spent the remainder of my childhood. My parents Mary and Lenny worked very hard so my sisters and I could enjoy our childhood. I was introduced to art at an early age by my Uncle John Graham, a self taught Artist. After High School I attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and studied there for three years, with many talented teachers, including, Burne Hogarth, Eugine Carlin & Marshall Arisman. After Graduating from Visual Art I worked for the next 15 years in New York City, for large and small advertising agencies and magazines, learning and applying advertising, promotional and illustration skills.

During these years I attended night classes at the School of Visual Arts, the Pan American Art School and the Art Students League in N.Y.C. For three years at night, I studied with John Gundelfinger at the School of Visual Arts who taught through many different lessons, not a style of drawing but a way of looking at objects no matter how complicated and breaking them down to their simplest form. While attending the Art Students League I studied figure drawing with the great Gustav Rehberger, who taught how to look and feel the motion of the figure in front of you. I also studied figure Drawing at the Art Students League with Michael Burbon and Anthony Palumbo. 

In the seventies while living on the upper Westside of Manhattan I started drawing the elegant architectural landmarks as well as the Human landmarks of the neighborhood. I started displaying my art on the sidewalks of Manhattan in 1974 at numerous neighborhood shows, various street corners in Manhattan and by just opening up my display and watching out for the police. Now artists can legally display their art all around town, but in those days you had to build your displays to be able to fold up in hurry. On the streets I met all kinds of people, and received both criticism and suggestions, good and bad, about my art. If an artist wants to get a response from their art, the street's are the best place for that, if you can take criticism. As a side note, my harshest critic was a dog, who used my display as a fire hydrant! Many people would stop and talk about art, themselves and the many problems they faced living in the city. By displaying on the streets, I received various commissions including portraits of people, brownstones, homes, boats, animals, landscapes, city scenes and restaurant scenes (interiors & exteriors). I also learned about many scenes of Manhattan that New Yorkers and Tourists from all around the world found special.

Since 1982, I have been working in the Three Dimensional medium. My hero has always been Red Grooms. I saw his Fabulous show at the Whitney Museum and I was floored. In 1977, I use to display my art on 5th Avenue, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, sometimes with the famous artist, James Rizzi. I always enjoyed his colorful etchings, so when I saw his 3-D art in a New York City Art gallery, I fell in love with this Hand-Cut medium. It's still is a popular medium and I feel it gives a lot of pop to my work and adds more fun to the images.

Drawing is the backbone of everything I do. My love of detail and New York City, is obvious to people who enjoy my subject matter and my sense of humor. Besides New York City I have completed editions of Washington. DC & Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2006 I was very lucky to meet my now good friend & European representative, Klaus Dieter Brand. Since then we have had many Art show adventures in Germany and Poland. We have worked on completing 3-D editions of Koln, Marburg, Berlin & Rosenheim, Germany. He has made many of my Art Dreams come true and I can never thank him enough.

Displaying my art on the streets of NYC was my passion! I used to love to drive into Manhattan, pick a spot and set up my display. By the end of the day I had met many interesting people, heard some very fascinating stories, made some new contacts, had a lot of laughs and even made some sales! People that stopped to speak with me sometimes really opened up about their feelings on many things. You can't beat that! Some people look down on an artist that does this, but to each their own. All that said, these experiences, were my marketing and research and allowed me to realize my ultimate dream of being accepted into and displaying my art in NYC Galleries! 

I am always working on new images of New York City, because there are millions of Drawings and Paintings to be done that feature the city. With that in mind, I hope to live to be 200 years old! However, I'm pragmatic, and I'll be happy to reach 150.

Six years ago, in 2020, I moved to Saint Augustine, Florida and I have been creating scenes of this beautiful city and the surrounding areas, using various mediums. It has been a great adventure for my wife Mirian and I we have met so many interesting people.