A Short Bio:
- Born near Otis AFB, Cape Cod, MA.
- Grew up in Colorado Springs, Woodland Park and a parcel of land between Florissant and Cripple Creek, CO, 9000 feet above sea level.
- Artistic science nerd until college, scientific Art nerd since.
- Architecture in High School
- Physics in Community College
- Studio Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Worked in film processing, document imaging, web development, database management, and digital marketing analytics.
A Few Artist's Comments
Paintings
Almost all of the paintings shown here have their genesis in language. In the older paintings I examine terms from jargons that use juxtapositions of every day words to describe scientific or technical phenomena. In the newer paintings I manufacture my own strange word strings by randomizing an early 20th century novel and mine the result for odd connections.
Figure Drawing
Some of these were drawn during my college years, but most were produced in Sarah Kaiser-Amaral's Studio 215 Figure Studio [link]. In my opinion, there is no better way to develop and maintain an accurate hand and eye.
Chicago Lit Photography
Since 2018, I've been the first call event photographer for the Chciago Literary Hall of Fame [link]. This led to shooting the Chicago Writer's Association Let's Just Write! annual conferences [link] and most recently, the annual Printers Row Lit Fest [link]. I've also photographed many of JB Pariah's 'Themefests', frequent gatherings of writers, actors and musicians who perform work on a given theme: work, travel, opening day, etc.
Fine Art Photography
I've been making fine art photographic images longer than any other medium. After several years of exploring on my own, I was mentored by Hal Gould, owner of th legendary Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver. Hal was a student of Arthur Siegel at Chicago's Institute of Design. Hal's insights into the aesthetics and history of photography, highlighted by examples from his own extrordinary collection, gave me a context against which to measure my own progress. He wrote my letter of recommendation to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
My strongest early influences are Andre' Kertesz, one of the great Modernist photographers, Lynne Cohen [link], who I studied under at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Robert Adams, formerly of Colorado Springs. Lynne, at the time, was well know for her austere examinations of institutional and corporate spaces. Robert Adams [link] taught at Colorado College when I was a child growing up in Colorado Springs. His book, The New West, is made up of photographs from this period and perfectly capture that region's rapid suburbanization.
About Me
I have been practicing visual art for over 40 years, working primarily in painting and photography. Before shifting to fine art, I photographed wedding/portrait, commercial and news assignments in Idaho and Colorado. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I live in Evanston with my wife, poet and educator, Salli Berg Seeley