Bio:
In the MAD MEN era of advertising, I worked for two agency giants, Leo Burnett and DDB, both in Chicago.
At Burnett, I was one of the key creatives on the Marlboro campaign for Phillip Morris. In the late eighties and nineties my ads/images for the Marlboro campaign dominated the print, outdoor and television categories. Subsequently, I managed the creative campaigns for the Pan Pacific market based in Hong Kong for a decade. Returning from Asia, I introduced and marketed financial services for State Farm Insurance at DDB. In 2010, I left advertising and focused exclusively on my passion for painting as a second career.
The latest pieces are a reflection of that earlier work which incorporated real ribbon. The newer pieces are abstract representations of ribbon, mixing oils, spray paint and acrylic. The ribbon images convey emotions of the cultural pulse of today, the alienation and extremity of our times, that were also represented in my earlier work with animals and nature.
Destruction, reclamation, redemption, as themes of our current social and emotional realities, express both the anguish as well as an exuberant hope of survival.
I share my journey of reclaiming oneself through my art, with gratitude.
Artist’s Statement:
In the midst of the pandemic, I routinely listened to Trump’s rhetoric on a daily basis, captive audience, as the majority of us during the lockdown. As his live conferences got more and more absurd while the pandemic spread, it seemed that the majority of Americans were standing right behind him. It reminded me of the blind allegiance I had for the Mickey Mouse Club as a child, and not knowing a shit about any one of them and being convinced what they said was ‘word up.’
I grew up and yet, that mouse cap still fits perfectly on Trump’s head