In all my art, I strive to uncover the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary. We’ve become such a visual society, and we’re constantly inundated with imagery. Despite so much to look at, I find it’s disturbingly easy to lose sight of what matters, and miss the beauty unfolding right in front of us. That’s why, with my compositions, I focus so intently on seeing the everyday in a brand new way.
As with many artists, I’ve always gravitated to unique perspectives and novel approaches. As a boy in Brooklyn, I’d scale the outsides of apartment buildings just for the chance to see my neighborhood from a new point of view. And years later, as a dentist, I repurposed many of my instruments to fashion life-like sculptures out of rudimentary dental plaster. My life has really been an on-going quest for new ways to see my world, and new ways to use my surroundings.
My current pieces grew from experimentation in the 1980s with developing Polaroid instant photos directly onto wet, watercolor paper. I used the still-wet colors from these image transfers as the palettes that I painted with. The resulting pieces were half photo-realistic, half impressionistic. Thinking back, the whole process strikes me as a non-computerized version of PhotoShop.
These days I’ve incorporated Photoshop computer software into my process. The latest technology grants me the ability to experiment on an unprecedented level and my current pieces have benefited immeasurably. Using specialized digital techniques, delicate hand-detailing, and a sophisticated print process, I’m able to expose the inner richness that lives buried just below the surface of our daily lives.
