Leaping Man

Leaping Man

oil on wood form, 48" x 60" x 8"


From a recent show at 9338 Campau in Hamtramck Michigan. The reference for this was a found black and white photo. I relied heavily on Williamsburg paints Ultramarine Blue straight from the tube and contrasted it with a yellow to help make it pop. This piece sat in my studio for about two years before I found the right deadline to push me to finish it. I'm glad I did.

Double Dutch

Double Dutch

oil and pencil on wood form, cast bronze figures, steel supports

13"x 45"x 13"

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I made a whirlygig of a jump roper and this piece grew out of that. In my original whirlygig the jumper is connected to the frame of the piece at her hands as jumps. In the new piece I wanted to figure a way to magically suspend the jumper in between two ropes known as a Double Dutch. Which is something I was always fascinated with when I was a kid. I couldn't wrap my head around when to jump in. I could barely jump with a single rope. So this is my solution to my made up problem. The background is pencil on wood and  projects out in the middle creating a knife edge that inserts itself between the ropes. The girl jumper is painted in oil in a forced perspective that hopefully helps lure you around the piece to engage you and interact with it. The jumpers are frozen in time but the viewer has to walk around it and move back and forth to find just the right sweet spot where everything lines up. I'm essentially trying to get people to "play" alongside the jumpers who are pausing just for you.

Here is a short video to help you understand the action and dimension of the piece.

This is the original jump rope piece.

Ollie

Ollie

Oil on wood form, 2012, 40" x 40" x 8"

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This is a portrait of a friend, Todd McNulty, at a new skatepark that was recently built in Detroit.

Sunday Sky

Sunday Sky

Oil on wood form

16"x 60"x 10"

This panoramic painting is on a curved surface. I paint from reference photographs, and I shot this picture on a beautiful Sunday a couple of summers ago. The background happened as a result of shooting the reference shot when it was on my computer screen with my camera phone and a strange resonance effect occurred. It was a result of looking for something else and some experimentation in the reference that I got this effect, a kind of happy accident but one I was looking for. Translating it to paint turned out to be harder than I thought. But the way light effects a subject wether natural or manufactured is something I am interested in.

Night

Night


Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 40"x 40"

This is a new painting, still wet and will be on display at the Detroit Artists Market for an opening on June, 8th.

Jake And Steve

Jake And Steve

Oil on wood form, 2011 15"x 15"x 7.5"

Click here to see pricing

Here I am playing with perspective in a painting of my friends Jake Culkowski and Steve Nawara

at their home on Trumbull, in Detroits historic Woodbridge neighborhood. The doorway and the woodpaneled wall are close to you visually but recede away from you physically when standing in front of this piece. Its a bit disconcerting, let alone my friends who seem to be impatiently waiting for you through the doorway.

Billy

Billy

Oil on wood form, 2011, 9.5"x 15"x 8"

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This is a painting of a friend, Billy West. This is actually the moment when I met him, I asked him to pose for me. A mutual friend who has known each of us for maybe 20 years or so, probably a little less, was blown away that we had never met. Billy has a cool bike.

Andy

Andy

Oil on wood form, 2011, 15"x 15"x 8"

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This is a portrait (actually a triple portrait, but I wasn't too interested in making it about that. I just wanted to concentrate on the main figure) of my friend Andy in front of his now (sadly) out of business resale shop The Hoard House. The store front also used to be the gallery/design store Design 99. The form this is painted on is what I've been calling my open book form, designed so you can really stick your face in there and look around. The left and right edges of the painting extend from the wall about 8", while the middle where the painting splits is only about 1" from the wall. The photos tend to flatten out the image, which is why I'm trying to explain what's happening so much.

Andy And Stacy

Andy And Stacy

Oil on wood form, 2011, 15"x 15"x 8"

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This painting is built like an open book, the sides form a right angle and the figures are projected out on a wire from the painting surface. The van makes lots of cool distortions depending on where you look at it, unless you are standing in the "sweet spot" where everything lines up visually.

Jake

Jake

Oil on wood form, 2011, 15"x 15" x 7.5"

sold

This is a portrait of my friend Jake Culkowski. He is a musician and has played with some great bands around town. I believe he's currently playing bass with the Detroit Cobras, they cycle through members quite a bit, so I could be wrong. The portrait is painted on half a square basically, and projects out from the wall. This triggers a few visual tricks. When walking around the piece Jake seems to turn his torso away from you but his head toward you and the stair landing appears that if you get close enough you will be able to see it, and see where he is standing. I enjoy trying to activate some of my work in this manner, I think it gives it an added dimension (duh!) while giving the owner of the piece something that is almost alive in a way.

Trees Stand In Thought And Wonder Why?

Trees Stand In Thought And Wonder Why?

Oil on canvas over wood form, 2011, 14"x 42" x 6"

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This is a curved painting from a beautiful day last winter. The snow was fresh and the sun was setting.

When Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt

When Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt

Oil on curved Birch panel, carved wood, 2011, approx. 14" x 40" x 11"

Not for sale

This is a piece I just finished up. I am trying to weave a specific but open ended narrative about this guitar player and a young lady on a horse. I think maybe she wandered over from a different piece to hear this guys song.

She Sings Sweetly

She Sings Sweetly

Oil on Birch panel, carved Bass wood, 2011, 12" x 36" x 7"

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This is a painting I am exhibiting in my one person show in April at Paint Creek Center For The Arts in Rochester Mi. There is one is one more thing I need to do to this. I need to carve a little patch of green grass for her to be standing on. Then I think I'm finished.

Duel

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Duel

Oil on Birch, 2010, 14"x 36"x 14"

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Another in my split screen dilemma series. The shooters are facing off when viewed head on but as you move they aren't really aiming at each other. A hare is crouching in the landscape and they are physically aimed at that, but will the bullets travel through the painting? Did the painting conspire to make them shoot at each other? If they fire will the hares and each other all be doomed? Will they be frozen in paint for eternity or will they eventually fire? Its not for me to decide.

Sniper

Sniper

Oil on Birch, 2010, 15"x 60"x 15"

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This is the first piece I made in a new series of paintings. I have tried to set up a dilemma of sorts, with a lot of different outcomes depending on how you view the painting both physically and mentally. First the painting is split in two and curved out toward the viewer, there is an action on either side of this split with a dubious outcome if viewed head on. But a lot of questions can arise from this. Will the painting itself stop the bullet? Did the universe conspire to reach out and interfere? If the painting is laid out flat does this change the bullets course? If viewed from the side you can't see the bullet or the soldier depending on where you're standing and everything is ok. Or is this just a way to pause time, and mentally save a life?

Cumulus Nimbus Rolls By

Cumulus Nimbus Rolls By

Oil on wood, 2010, 8" x 22" x 6"

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This is another in my series, with the split screen. The characters in this drama, an Apache indian and a union soldier, are fighting to the death with only the clouds and landscape as witnesses. An arm and leg are movable so the viewer can change to a certain degree the composition and possible outcome of the conflict.

The Calcified Tears Of A Heartbroken Giant - Chocolate Hills, Philippines

The Calcified Tears Of A Heartbroken Giant - Chocolate Hills, Philippines

Oil and pastel on wood, 40"x 60"

This piece grew out of a previous drawing I did called 'The Heartbroken Giant'. It turns out there is a real place in the Philippines called the Chocolate Hills that had a landscape reminiscent to the one I made for my drawing. After a little research on the interwebs, I was struck and excited by the similarities to the backstory I had made up for my original drawing and the local folklore. The hills individually are referred to as the calcified tears, while the whole area is known as the Chocolate Hills. They are grass covered limestone that turn brown in the dry season, and there are 1,776 of them, a fact I just discovered, and is of course a number of great importance in this country.