Images:

Pool Steps II 32" x 70" oil on linen SOLD 2004

Cathedral Doorway II 41" x 41" oil on linen SOLD 2003

Artist Statement:

The juxtaposition of images of reflected light in office buildings, rich layered neutralized hues, and the dichotomy between ethereal clouds and hard lines in my ‘Sky corner’ series might seem ordinary, but they are all vital elements to a study of man’s place in a post-modern world. The Sky corner series are meditations on the nature of that reality.

My motifs spring from the motto that there are no big things in life, only small things lived more fully. These paintings reflect the happenstance of seeing common everyday structures in a new light. Compositionally, I crop down the image to express the coming together of dramatic lighting, the ethereal sky, and man-made structure, as a statement itself on man’s place in the universe. Do these structures grow up from the ground, or do they come down from the sky?  

Hopefully the work will inspire the viewer to see the happenstantial structures around them with new eyes, and feel that there is really no randomness to life. That wherever we are we fit into a bigger picture.  That the ordinary lived more fully, more consciously, makes them extra-ordinary. These structures don’t just stand there; they reach up and kiss the sky!

Biography:

Education

Private Study with E. J. Krisor, 1996-2001

San Diego School of Fine Art, San Diego, California, 1977

Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York, 1971-1973

Selected Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

2008

2008 Biennial Contemporary American Realism, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN—September 13-November 2 [Skycorner #14, juried]

Boats, Buildings, and Bridges, University House, Seattle, WA—June 19-October 19 [Invited Exhibition, five pieces]

40 Portraits/40 Artists, Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA—January 17-March 1 [Invited Exhibition, Sarah]

Beyond Boundaries: 35 Chicago Artists Connect with 12 Yakima Area Artists, a joint exhibition between Chicago Printmakers Collaborative and the Larsen Gallery, Yakima, WA—January 11-February 11 [Invited exhibition, Skycorner Connection]

2006

Two-Person Show; Joseph Guggino & Yvonne Petkus, Juried Competition Prize Winners, Contemporary Architectural Interpretations, Viridian Artists @ Chelsea, New York City, NY – January 17-February 4 [Invited exhibition; seven paintings on display]

2004

Second Thursday Art Walk, Group Show at Berozkina Gallery, Kirkland, WA – May 13 – June 7 [Invited Exhibition, four pieces on display]

2003

Structure & Realism, Agora Gallery, New York, NY – November 12 – December 2 [World Bank, Cathedral Doorway II]

ColorGraphics, Seattle, WA – Invited Exhibition – August 6 – November 30 [Twelve pieces on display]

Edmonds Public Library, Edmonds, WA – Invited Exhibition – April – May [Fourteen pieces on display]

Second Thursday Art Walk, Group Show at Berozkina Gallery, Kirkland, WA – February [Invited Exhibition, nine pieces on display]

Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA – February [Invited Exhibition for Grand Opening: World Bank, Grain Silos]

2002

Award Winners of the 2001 Juried Art Exhibit, Allied Arts Council, Yakima, WA - June-July [Invited Exhibition, three pieces on display]

Greenwood-Phinney 7th Annual Art Walk, Antique Lighting Company, Seattle, WA - May-June [Juried, fourteen pieces on display]