ABOUT ME
I was born in Minneapolis. I am a graduate of the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas, and The Union Graduate School (Ph.D. ’83). I was also a Fulbright Scholar (India ’80).
Following a career as a health care executive, I took up oil painting and established a studio in the Northeast Minneapolis’ Arts District in 2003. In 2025, I moved to Los Angeles.
My focus is on portraiture, human figures, and narrative paintings, undertaken in a style that dates back to the European Renaissance and the Baroque period. I take particular inspiration from the late works of Rembrandt and Titian, and identify with the current revival of representational fine art painting worldwide.
My work has been selected for many juried shows in the upper midwest, including the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Competition. Many of my works are in private collections.
TRAINING & TECHNIQUE
While being largely self-taught, in 2016 I apprenticed with the Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum (someone whom the late Andrew Wyeth once called the greatest living painter on earth). Odd taught me many things, including how to apply paint in the manner of Rembrandt and Titian. The mostly forgotten technique involves using tools beyond brushes and paint: sandpaper, razor blades, marble dust, rags, even my own fingers. I also use a restricted the palette of just four colors: white, red, yellow, and black. From these, every color imaginable can be created.
I am a “realist” painter. By that I mean that I try to create images that people recognize from their everyday life. But for me real challenge is to seek out the hidden meaning conveyed in these everyday things - to discover a psychological truth or to tell a universal story. Odd once told me that a painter who decides to paint realistically can do so in either “prose” or “poetry.” I strive to make poetry.
Self Portrait. 2024
