Biography

I was born in Brooklyn, NY (Brighton Beach) and raised in Cedarhurst and Lawrence, NY.

My mother majored in art at Cooper Union and was an active member of the NY Art Student League. She encouraged me to appreciate and understand art. However, she also insisted that I focus on another career, as being an artist would not be a satisfying option.

I graduated in engineering from Johns Hopkins University and attended engineering graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. I worked for many years as an engineer in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and North Carolina. I continued to actively go to museum and galleries - sometimes purchasing art and photography.

While working with computers, I experimented with the initial CAD programs (Autocad version 1.0 for PC’s). But I longed for something better with more control of shading and texture.

In 2008, I decided to paint. Unfortunately, I had developed arthritis in my hands and could not hold a pencil, pen, or brush, for more than a few minutes. Still feeling this tremendous urge to create, I purchased a special computer mouse that was designed for people with arthritis. I spent a year practicing and teaching myself how to draw/paint with it, use like using a brush. For the next 10 years I experimented and printed stuff on a regular printer using a vector graphics program called Inkscape (which I still use).

In 2018, I purchased my first high end pigment printer by Epson, and started to create art that met archival standards. Later that year, I started to exhibit art in juried shows at art centers, galleries, and museums. In 2023, I purchased my second Epson pigment printer which enabled me to print on even wider papers. The two printers have given me the flexibility to create wonderful pieces on all types of materials and widths up to 24” wide.

My North Carolina office/shop/studio is in a separate building about 100 feet from the house. When not painting, I continue to work refining software for manufacturing systems, developing online website, managing ad campaigns, and performing analytical analysis. The two occupations keep me stimulated and challenged. (I spend about 30-40 hours a week doing art and a similar chunk of time on software, websites, and ad campaigns.)

When a 40 ft. truck arrived with the printer, they fortunately had a lift and brought the printer down the driveway with a pallet truck.

I knew there would be no way to hide this purchase from my wife.

She immediately knew this was too big to be a new refrigerator.

She now considers me to be crazy.