I studied drawing and printmaking at the University of Tennessee under Tom Riesing, Marcia Goldenstein, Clark Stewart, Byron McKeeby, and Brian Wells. 

After college I did a 9000 mile bicycle trip around the US with a friend and landed in San Francisco where I started working as a bicycle messenger. After a couple of other interceding bike trips I started a company making bicycle messenger bags called Timbuk2.

Now I live in Berkeley CA.

Influences: Duchamp, Magritte, Dubuffet, Tinguely, Dine, Twombly, Artin

Line, Form, and Chaos

My artwork is about bringing together opposites in ways to create compelling dynamic tensions. I combine descriptive lines in the creation of forms in conjunction with chaotic elements seeking to build a unified energetic image. I approach drawing 3-dimensionally, not just in terms of perspective. I work into the paper rather than merely on the surface of the paper.

I strive to create drawings that operate with a depth and range relative to the viewer’s experience. I want my drawings to be compelling from a distance, and I want them to pull the viewer in close enough where they are inches away exploring subtle details of the work.

Line

I grew up in a family of architects in the pre-computer days. Many of my childhood toys were my father’s tools for work, like a parallel bar, mechanical pencils, pencil pointer, triangles, electric erasers, eraser shields, etc. In my mind, a line is more than just a dimension between two points, it involves a sense of craftsmanship. A single line can be layers of lines on top of each other with successive intensity and a variety of media. It can be lines that are repeatedly erased, repositioned, recreated over and over, a process gives life to a drawing. You find this in early masters’ figure drawing where construction lines become a rich compositional element of the art.

Form

Drawing differs from painting in that drawing works from line to create form and, in a painting, line becomes a product of boundaries between forms. For my drawings I try to allow form to connect my techniques. 

Chaos

Perhaps my favorite artist of all time is late-20th century abstract expressionist, Cy Twombly. His work is naturally kinetic and has an authentic sense of expression. I see in his work a mastery of chaos. I’ve incorporated random marks and scratchings into my very early drawings, even before I ever heard of Twombly. His art has driven me to more fully embrace this element of my own work. What love most in creating art is working to create a compelling dynamic tension where I’m using chaotic methods to repeatedly break and then rebuild lines.