Portrait

Artist’s statement (not compulsory)

You’re sent on a mission. The objectives are clear. You are to locate the target and set yourself up in a comfortable position within which to take aim, fire and then to disappear as quickly as possible. You follow all orders and procedures to the letter. Everything is proceeding as planned and as smoothly as could be hoped for. You’re set up in an optimal location. You raise up your weapon to take aim. You put your eye to the telescopic lens, and when you look through it you see yourself.

This work was begun in anguish. There are things that I remember, so when I read about them or see the pictures, I think I know what they mean. Everyone wants a piece of suffering. It colors our existence with intensity. We seem to think it qualifies us and gives credence to our claims. I come from a people who have monopolized pain, who think they patented suffering. But I’m not supposed to say that.

In the semiotic minefield two soldiers from opposite sides make the perfect structural text. Each one can kill or be killed. The “other” is perfectly parallel to you – a sign that mirrors you completely. With a certain degree of sweat and dirt you begin to smell the same. Slowly you lose your identity; in fact yours becomes entwined with his. If a bullet rips through your guts you have the time to recollect that you were somebody else.

I use the photographs in lieu of being there. Otherwise you can imagine a painter with a French easel looking that Apache right in the eye. It’s difficult to be ambiguous yet think you know what’s wrong and right. It’s a thin line between bitterness and self-pity. At moments it just feels good to paint. When I was in the army I used to shave my head. A woman on the bus thought I looked sexy.

Finally, a joke:
They hung a man. In the beginning he shook and swung from side to side. Then he got used to it.

February 27 2002

Vita

1961	born in Pittsburgh / USA
1985-90	New York Studio School, New York / USA
1983-85	Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem / IL

Currently lives and works in New York, USA.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014	Modified to Fit Your Screen, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York / USA
2012	You Have Been Pre-Selected, Quinnipiac University, Hamden CT / USA
	Segment, New Arts Program,Kutztown, PA / USA
2011	Fagin‘s adventures, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York / USA
2009	Form & Function, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne / D
2008	In the Mood for Love, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York / USA
2007	National and International Projects, PS1, Long Island City / USA
2002	Full Frontal, A.R.T. Inc., New York / USA
2000	Works on Paper, A.R.T. Inc., New York / USA
1999	In memory of the Revolution, Herbert Lust Gallery, New York / USA
1996	Recent Works, Virginia Lust Gallery, New York / USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2017	New Gallery / New Work, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York / USA
2013	How You Gonna Get Back to Jersey, Planthouse, New York / USA
	Silhouette, EFA/Blackburn 20/20, New York / USA
	Walking the Line V, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne / D
2011	Walking The Line III, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne / D
2010	Wall to Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles / USA
2008	Text Messaging, Islip Art Museum, New York / USA
	Walking The Line, Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne / D
2007	New Prints 2007/Spring, International Print Center, New York / USA
2006	There’s The Rub, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York / USA
	Brooklyn, Westport Art Center, Westport Connecticut / USA
2005	Paperworks, Martin Kudlek Gallery, Cologne / D
2004	WMD, The Front Room, Brooklyn / USA
2003	Passion-Creation & Rencontre, Espace Evenement Prestige, Paris / F
	Ancient Traditions/Contemporary Visions, Ethel H. Blum Gallery, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor / USA
2002	27 Emerging Artists, inaugural exhibition, Spike Gallery, New York / USA
	The Joseph Show, ten artists-one man, 20th Century Gallery, Hudson / USA
2001	Rags to Riches, 25 years of Paper Art from Dieu Donne Papermill, Maryland College Institute of Art; touring exhibition, 2001-2003 / USA
2000	en garde, Burton Marinkovich Fine Art, Washington, DC / USA
	Remember, Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, Educational Alliance, New York / USA
	CON-TEXT, Dieu Donne Papermill Gallery, New York / USA
1999	Hit and Run 1, curated by Edward Winkleman, New York / USA
	Raw Seeing, New York Studio School Gallery, New York / USA
1997	Four Painters, 123 Watts Gallery, New York / USA

AWARDS & GRANTS:

2009	The Lower East Side Print shop Key holder award
2005	New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Artists’ books
1987	The Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Award

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Artcritical.com November 2008
The Brooklyn Rail, November 2008 issue. Review page 54
The Brooklyn Rail, July/August 2004 issue. Review page 17
The New Yorker, Goings On About Town, January 17, 2000
Rags to Riches: 25 Years of Paper Art from Dieu Donne’ Paper-mill. Exhibition catalogue.