My father’s life was a simple one. He started out wanting to be a cartoonist. As many struggling artists did at the time, he went door to door to at agencies in New York City looking for work. Back then, you left your portfolio with the hiring manager and hoped for a call back. When that didn’t work, he took on roles in the mailroom or accounting departments to make a living.
He found some success in the early 1960s and 70s with showings that kept his hand in the art world. Although his work was well-received, he still needed a full-time job to support himself.
But art, for him, was always central, regardless of whether he ever sold a piece. Eat. Breathe. Paint and sketch.
He never stopped creating.
Although my Dad never worked as an artist by trade, he used every spare moment of his life to paint and draw. Whether filling the pages of sketchpads in his car between errands or painting at home after dinner, he always found a way to express how he saw the world.
Until nearly his final moments, his paint brush – and his creative mind – were never still. His irreplaceable vision lives on in his body of work.
When I look through the stacks and stacks of canvases now in my possession, I’m once again awestruck. For these pieces to stay hidden away would be a huge loss to the art world. This website is my way of sharing his legacy – giving anyone who needs it some inspiration, and maybe a renewed sense of wonder at the power of art.
Style
His work reflects his preference for prominent color and visual freedom over rigid technical skill. Throughout his art career, his approach to the canvas ranged from classical to cartoon-like; earlier works are characterized by the use of dark colors and thicker lines, giving way to vibrant colors and minimized lines in later works.
While he did not limit himself in subject matter, he often chose to portray people. The composition of his work – never predictable – always includes the “uncommonly common.” His pieces, even those embodying the simplest subject matter, have the power to evoke both the comic and the deep.