The artwork in this section consist of oil paintings and watercolors that have been incorporated into exhibitions, installations or illustrated articles. The following statement provides background information on how this body of work started and some of my thoughts about the most recent installations. The videos that accompany the paintings in these installation can be found in the VIDEOS section of this website.

Biological Regionalism

As our cultures become more homogenized by mass media and consumerism, the one element that remains true to a region is its nature. Although we try to manipulate it to fit our needs, the landscape and the biological inhabitants characterize a region's nature. It has been an omnipresent influence that has affected a region's people and the culture. The knowledge describing a region's distinguishing natural elements is being lost as generations become continually disconnected from a lifestyle that relies on the landscape for survival."Biological Regionalism" is a series of paintings and videos that identify the landscape and the fish that are distinctive to a region. I envision the project creating indigenous symbols of a culture.

For the past 15 years, I have lived in Western New York and have worked on several series of paintings that investigated Cuban and American culture. Many years ago, I began reading about local history and began researching local entomology, biological cycles of regional salmonids (trout) and the role of local rivers on culture. As I acquired more information about the region, I found myself being seduced by the angling art of Henry Inman, Thomas Doughty, Winslow Homer and Thomas Cole; the fish still life of Gustave Courbet, William Chase and Emil Carlsen ; the landscape work of Martin Heade Johnson, Jose Maria Valesco and the early work of Alexis Rockman. The devotional painting approach that I incorporated in my earlier series has continued through to the present series. While the past work concentrated on issues relating to art history and elements of Cuban/American culture, the recent work continues the focus on art history while incorporating biological regionalism.

While piscatorial art and nature painting was considered a form of "high art" during the early 19th century, it no longer seems innovative in our contemporary art landscape. The connection between nature and culture seems to have been lost, as most of our social and economic reliance has moved to an urban setting. This project tries to reaffirm the lost connection by re-introducing the fish and landscape that are characteristic to a region through the use of traditional and contemporary mediums.

While the regions are specific the issues raised are universal.