Like many creative people with sensible immigrant parents I set aside my love for art and took a more practical career path. But my near constant desire to turn more fully to my art was accelerated through my work overseas, most notably in the Middle East, which exposed me to artists who struggled under hostile regimes and physical hardship. The world is full of artists who are prohibited from expressing themselves. The only thing standing in my way was me.

My art is about the in-between. I’ve always been fascinated with how other people can make us feel in spite of how we want to feel. It’s that momentary involuntary emotion right before we struggle to regain our public face that I try to convey in most of my work. I try to capture duplicity and the uncomfortable feeling when you’re really not sure what the other person means and you bring all your baggage along as the official interpreter.

My sculptures combine abstraction and figuration in an effort to capture that in-between, leaving interpretations open, yet guided. My muses and audience are the same, they are often the confused, struggling and disaffected. I love the very old medium of clay-to-bronze. Bronze is magnificent. It is cold and brutally honest. There is an ancient adage that goes something like this: A sculpture is born in clay, dies in plaster and is reborn in bronze. I try to support local foundries and mold makers, although they are scarce in the Chicago area.

I return to the beautiful form of portraits often so that I can manipulate the clay into features that are instantly recognizable but not totally clear. For example, in my latest sculpture, it’s not clear whether he is smiling, or slightly afraid. I want observers to bring themselves to my art and know that I’ve left them enough room to see what they want to see or perhaps what they need to see.

My most recent work has been a bit of a departure and is purely and functionally representational relief and bas-relief. I’ve fallen hard for the challenge of perspective and conveying depth millimeter by millimeter, searching for light and shadow. Relief work is perfect for allegory, serious or absurd, and allows a sculptor to be a storyteller in greater detail; and art is all about the story.

You will find more of my story on these pages.

I am proud to serve on the Board of the American Medallic Sculpture Organization (AMSA) https://amsamedals.org