All of my life I have been exposed/involved in one sort or another of visual materials production, from early days as a designer of oil refineries, to a career as advertising director of various men’s wear companies, to another career with some major advertising agencies (where I developed campaigns for Rocky, Annie Hall and other films), to yet another career as a screenwriter, and finally in TV Production with my wife where we have had a show on PBS Stations for 15 years.
During those years I have been fortunate enough to travel widely for both business and pleasure, and also enjoy a deep involvement with both sailing and piloting vintage airplanes.
Now, as things slow down, I have an opportunity to follow up on all those moments when I have seen something really exciting, interesting, very beautiful, and, most of all, something that produces pleasure, and said to myself, “Gee, I would really like to paint that.”
So, with some wise instructors at the Art Student’s League in New York to point the way, I have been painting and drawing seriously for the past 10 years. For me it’s an activity that was never about “showing” or selling art. It was always about just making art.
Until recently, the fact that people may like, and buy, some of what an artist makes, but not all of his or her production, has forced the artist into a process of self imitation that dampens the joy of creating art.
Now, with the perfection of the giclee process, it is possible for more than one individual to possess a particular image in a high quality reproduction, one that will be as attractive and enjoyable as the original, at a fraction of the cost. The artist, today, can have it both ways. He or she can think about showing and selling their work and never have to do the same thing twice.