I attribute my love for the masters to the eight years I spent during high school and college at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Living almost daily during those years with the work of some of the greatest painters that ever lived certainly had a profound impact on me. I eventually developed an approach to painting that can best be described as ART ABOUT ART.

Using a flat poster-like technique, I borrow images from the masters and combine them with images from popular culture such as storefronts, roller coasters, antique automobiles. In each case, the foreground is painted first leaving out the original backgrounds, and then the objects or scenes are placed in the background.

My favorite painters are Manet, Velasquez, Vermeer, Uccello, Botticelli, Hals, Magritte, Picasso, Matisse, Leger, and others who are all known for their tendency to use flat forms in their work. The choices of the combinations are primarily intuitive. There is no underlying message in the juxtapositions of images, and there is no attempt to criticize or satirize the works of art that are assimilated. When combined with contemporary images, my paintings are a bit startling, but remain as homages to the great artists that inspired them.