Artist Statement

Art is a four letter word: Idea. to make something from nothing is an old fashioned yet romantic idea that I think is noble. I want to make something that is obscenely beautiful. Freud said that making Art was a form of foreplay and that while working, an artist is in a state of high arousal. My childhood treehouse in Mississippi was that kind of timeless place where I fulfilled passions forbidden during the ordinary daytime. Secret, naughty and absurd are some of my favorite words. James Joyce is my favorite writer. He preferred to listen to what we are not supposed to talk about ….

I used to paint, but now I photograph - the camera can keep up with my thinking - making my motions equal to my emotions. I remember the snowy night in Wisconsin when my Father brought home the World Book Encyclopedia, where text and image co-habited uninhibitedly on fragrant pages: maps, schematics, biographies and portraits of bearded rebel generals.

My Life is my most important daily business....the nude deepens the transaction. The world of wine, women, words, birds, books, and the bayou are my exposed naked nerves. Figures of speech are the double helix of a public and private dialogue of escape. I keep asking: why would a grown man be doing this?

No rules. There is no right or wrong in a picture. As an Artist, my only function in society is to stand for an excess of freedom.

secret state of the he.art

i am an american sex dreamer

gone mad - i only know what i love-

i don’t remember being born

but i played very hard

naked under

the bluemoons & rainroomsin childhood treehouses.

i know there is only one first time

i know dreams come true -

perhaps that would explain

why a grown man would be doing this-

I have lived in paris, mississippi,

rome, texas, little havana

forget-me-knot memories-

i have held the most idiotic jobs

that you could ever imagine:

i was a picture framer in florence;

i was a pimp around jackson square;

I was a snake farmer/charmer

deep in the everglades.

in new york city, i rented roller skates

to tourists in central park on sundays.

for awhile, deep in the heart of saturday night,

i was a rocking roll star

known as johnny majestic.

Alternate Universe…

Unlike Salvador Dali- I do not remember being born.

But I identify with that bumper-sticker that says:

”We are born naked, bloody & thirsty- then it gets worse.”

I did not go to thee Yale Art School or any other name branded hot-shot Art School like Pratt, RISD or Cal Arts...

I never studied with a famous, big-gun blue-chip artist or wiz-kid professor as a mentor.

I don’t even have an Art Degree. I never had a one person show and no newspaper or Art magazine has ever written a word about my work. I am not a Veteran. I am not handicapped physically or mentally. I am not a minority yet.

I like to do the drive-thru @ ARBY’s & get their classic beef n’cheddar sandwich then, drive down the street to the drive-thru McDonald’s for their French Fries. I am not addicted to anything but Dr Pepper is my favorite “drink.” At totty time, I used to sip Wild Turkey 101 on the rocks with a splash of Coke with an orange slice on the side. Now i drink a dry white Italian wine. I’m not over-weight nor anorexic. I buy & read ArtForum magazine & ART in America; I read the former & look at the latter.

Drawing & painting are my passion but now I make photographs & poems - they keep up with my thinking the best.

She keeps asking me why would a grown man be doing this? I tell her it is a way of breathing; a way of inhabiting my own life. When I am really at the top of my game, I invade my own privacy.