statement

I was born in California 44 years ago. I bounced from job to job until I landed a position at a music industry trade publication doing research. That lasted for 10 years until 2003 when I moved to Chicago. Before Chicago, painting was more of a hobby. I won an exhibition way back in 1989 but never really found a scene to grow as an artist so all the art I made during my years in California were for my own walls.  In Chicago I blossomed as an artist, exhibiting in art festivals and independent galleries. I was never able to find a proper gallery, but I also never courted one. My last big achievement was winning an award in 2008, to have one of my paintings included in the Rockford Art Museum permanent collection.  When the economy crashed 2009, aside from a few articles in CS magazine, Time Out and one Chicago Reader cover, life as an artist has tanked. My last big show was a solo exhibit of 20 new paintings at Munster Art Center in 2011. I've actually lost faith in my own art and I'm looking to completely reinvent my style with a no holds barred attack at an upcoming artist residency at Ragdale in Lake Forest, Illinois. Currently I'm unemployed also coming off a long term relationship, leaving me without an address, yet this lack of responsibilities will allow me to go on a much needed walkabout to hopefully find the true artist within me.

I am a self-taught photorealist painter with a minor in self-taught guitar building. I'm musically incompetent so I turned to production. I've made 27 custom or modified guitars, and I have another 5 in the works.

bio

born: 1968, Livermore, California

selected awards/honors

Dean Alan Olson Purchase Award, Rockford Art Museum Biennial, 2008

selected publications

The Reader, Cover Art, Chicago, IL, 2012
Time Out Chicago, Profiled for Cover Story on Chicago Neon, Chicago, IL, 2010
CS Interiors, Small article on my artwork, Chicago, IL page 24, 2010

selected solo or two-person exhibits

The Sky Show, Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Munster, IN, 2011
Swell Gallery, West Dundee, IL, 2010
The Cello Series, Ossia Art Space, Chicago, IL 2008

selected group shows

Inaugural art exhibition, Prime 8 Art League, Chicago, IL 2012
Uplift, Believe Inn, Chicago, IL 2012
Retrospective, Ossia Art Space, Chicago, IL 2009
4th Annual National Self Portrait Exhibition, 33 Collective, Chicago, IL 2008