b.1943, New York City
As a teenager I studied painting with Polish artist Leo Cizes and later, at New York’s Art Students League. In the 1960s, I became interested in photography, but even before I bought my first camera, I built a darkroom. My art has always been about crafting pictures rather than taking pictures.
In 1968 I, my wife Betty and I, founded Exposure Gallery on New York’s lower East side. During the1960’s, I exhibited my work there and at other East Coast galleries. A.D. Coleman, photography critic of the New York Times at that time described me as a technical master. My photographs from that period were one of a kind images individually crafted using bleaches, dyes, and toners. You can find examples of this work from the 1960s here.
In 1970 I moved from Manhattan to Berkeley California. Impressed by the amazing flora of Northern California I began crafting Oshibana, pictures made with pressed flowers. In the 1970’s, my Wilderness Cards were sold at scores of galleries throughout coastal California.
In 1985, while l was working for McGraw Hill, I was introduced to digital media, which profoundly influenced my work. Where once I painted with colors, I could now paint with images. Today my work includes both black and white photography as well as digital art. I hope you enjoy it.