My work investigates the things I see around me; I alternate between creating landscape and still life paintings that are balanced on the cusp of abstraction.

Focusing on color, light, shape and surface textures, I strive to reveal the unexpected, discordant and sometimes ironic physical beauty in simple things. I leave ambiguity in the work and let the viewer fill in the details. I investigate light in its endless variations, subtlety and complexity.

Guiltily fascinated by fire, war and disaster, my landscape paintings employ aerial perspectives to distance the viewer from the violence I depict, shining a light on their brutal elegance.

Each work in this series features a lush landscape, painted with thick brush strokes. The films of Werner Herzog are a major influence. “Herzog said the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility and murder. His films capture that—and yet they’re beautiful.” My compositions are dynamic, full of power and energy that engages the viewer in a way that invites multiple interpretations.

I graduated from NYU and the International Center of Photography with an MA in Studio Arts. As a lecturer at the Whitney Museum, I was immersed in the work of important American artists for more than a decade. This experience remains an enduring influence on my painting. I live and work in Maplewood, New Jersey.