Is it true that you’re fully Self taught? Is there a reason you chose to go that route and have you had Any bumps along the way?

Yes, that is true. I have no secondary education of any sort. In reading the Francis Bacon interviews he spoke of having not gone to art school and also of one’s instinctive desires, and these topics and points certainly influenced me. When I was 18 living in Queens, I took graveyard shift Union jobs working on the backs of trucks to pay the rent so that I could spend my days freely walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I did this nearly everyday, spending an intimate time with many of the collections for several years. Although I have no formal training, I have no interest in being naive to periods or style and am deeply interested in the hierarchy of painting and the lineage of art history. The only bumps I have to show are on the back of my head from being stabbed five times.

You’ve moved around a lot over the years. talk a little about where you’ve lived? How have those travels affected you and your work?

From the Summer of 1991 until the Fall of 2007, I lived in NYC having resided in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and briefly in the South Bronx. However during that 16 year period, I spent 3 months in Oakland, 6 months in Tokyo, 6 months in Modena Italy, 6 months in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 5 months in Upstate New York. I pick up experiences from wherever I go and make use of materials indigenous to where I am or that I find along the way.

Is your studio packed with things?

My studio is constantly being filled with materials I gather with which to pronounce my painterly and sculptural vision.

What types of objects do you collect?

I collect materials that resonate with me when I come upon them. I find them along the way; sidewalks, dumpsters, in the woods, at flea markets, on the beach––wherever I am, I search and keep alert to the things that can find their way into a composition or work.

You were settled in NYC for quite some time. What was your time like there as a part of that scene?

I ended up in New York with a yearning and desire to accumulate as much information as possible. I spent a majority of my time working long hours painting. Though you may see it differently, I don’t ever consider myself to have been part of any one scene. If there was a scene, I was recluse to it; I have always considered myself an outsider.