Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you live and create at the moment?  Near a beach in Quincy Massachusetts.

2-Did you study art or is it inherent? If you did,  where?  I studied at the art institute of Boston for a couple of years and took Illustration classes. I did not study much and was never a good student in the academic sense. I’ve always been into drawing and making things but I did not grow up around art and really had no idea I could be an artist.

3-How did you acquire your style?  It’s probably a culmination of all the things that influenced me throughout my life, whatever I thought was cool or interesting. Hopefully at some point style is more natural and organic than contrived.

4-Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings or is it from imagination?  Both I guess, they seem to play off each other. I like seeing what happens when a group of characters I paint interact, feels like a play or a performance.

5-How much does your personal life affect your paintings?  Whatever is going on in my personal life is part of my work, part of the process. It’s inevitable.

6-Does the colors in your paintings signify the state of your mind?  Not literally. I have a tough time with color. I love color but I think of line and shape way before color. Maybe that is a result of drawing so much in B&W, not sure. I’d like to bring everything together, so it’s all on the same wavelength, I think that’s what I’ve been working on lately.

7-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?  I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. I think what kept me interested in drawing is the joy I got from it. The feeling you get when you make something you like then go back and look at it and you are stoked.

8-Do you work on multiple paintings at a time or just one?  I like to work on a bunch of paintings at once. I’m able to get a bunch of ideas and marks out and let them settle. I can then go back and re-work or keep building. I find it a good way to build up a painting, create unity across them and hopefully not over work them. I don’t like over thinking a piece, this happens if I work on just one at a time. I get too uptight and will get bored with the image.

9-What is the longest you have spent on any painting?  I’ve had some sit around for a couple of years. I really like those that I let linger, they take on something else, like they’ve lived a little. When I jump back into to finish them, it’s like I’m working with them, growing with them.

10-Who is your favorite artist?  I can’t say I have just one, there are so many. Amy Sillman, Walter Swennen and Eddie Martinez are a few that really inspire me.

11-What advice would you give putative collectors?  Buy stuff you like, the stuff that interests you personally. Not sure I really have much advice.

12-How do you describe success as an artist?  Getting joy out of making stuff. Getting stoked on what you are making and then it motivating you to make more work.

13- If you could live in a museum anywhere in the world which would it be?  The Museum of Natural History, NY. I think Holden Caufield might live there.

14-What do you dream about?  Usually my dreams are pretty incoherent. Once in a while one will stick and I’ll think about it, but that is rare. I did for a bit have a recurring dream. I was a secret agent who is super clumsy and always drunk or high. I would keep messing up assassination attempts and missions. Pretty basic I guess but dreams can be really fun, you can do whatever or be whatever you want. A dream in the greater sense, I’d say fairness.

15-What is your favorite gallery to show anywhere in the world? They could be reading!  I have no idea, but if I would have to guess I’d say, “a really good one”.

16-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  Drawing with my brother Eddie. Laughing and drawing, keeps me going.

17-If you could have dinner with three artist living/dead, who would be at your table?  Hieronymus Bosch, James Brown and Danial Day Lewis. Probably order pizza.

18-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Coffee, cigarettes and music.

19-If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please answer the question.

Does the fact that one day you will die make it easier to make art?  Yes it does.

20-How would someone find you on Social media?  Instagram:  totallybloated

21-Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art=mystery

Food=moderation

Sports=exercise

Politics=business

Poor=human

God=damn

Rich=boring

Luxury=artist

Sex=cigarette

Picasso=guernica

Religion=nosy