3:23 pm: this morning I prepared this statement for the communications program manager at anschutz-rodgers eye center, uc colorado school of medicine, to be distributed to the doctors, many of whom will attend the April 22 opening of my I fly exhibition at space gallery, denver.
i’ll review in the morning before forwarding to anschutz.
I knew from the time i could hold a pencil that i was destined to become an artist; a painter. from that moment right up to the present i have been evolving as a human being and as a fine artist.
a turning point came when, after getting a routine eye exam, i discovered that i had glaucoma. once i read up on it, the full impact hit me and it dawned on me that i was in real danger of losing my vision and no longer being able to paint.
when i first met dr. seibold, i immediately felt a deep trust in his knowledge and abilities. just as important, i felt his compassion for me as an artist afraid of losing my most precious sense: my eyesight.
he let me know that, while partial damage had already been done to my optic nerve, he could return my vision to normal. the ground breaking surgery he performed literally saved my sight and allowed me to continue my career as an artist. and for that, i have deep and lasting gratitude. i experienced an epiphany of sorts. my eyesight, which until then i had taken for granted, beame a priceless gift. i felt as though i could fly. thus, the title of this exhibition: i fly, with the subtitle being the greek petAow.
this exhibition, the proceeds of which will support glaucoma research at u.c. department of opthalmogogy, is a small expression of my gratitude. it's my first time doing a benefit show, and it will not be the last. i love the feeling!
my life in art could be divided into chapters, the first being my time at antioch college in ohio. i was fortunate to be under the tutelage of an art professor who knew exactly who i was and where i was headed. he gave me the tools and, most important, the encouragement i needed at that moment. my first exhibition took place at the antioch student union. all but one of the paintings sold, giving me the confidence early on that i could, indeed, support myself as an artist.
after graduating, a friend proposed that we hitchhike together through europe. serendipity led me to greece, where i lived and painted for 15 years without once returning to the states. there, i had numerous sold-out solo exhibitions and became the first american to have my paintings enter the collections of the benaki museum, the national gallery-alexandros soutzos museum in athens and other greek museums.
during that chapter of my life, the nature of my work was realist. my subject matter was the uniquely beautiful greek landscape. simultaneously, i painted portraits and figures. adjacent to my studio was a construction site, and the workers, with their newspaper hats and expressive faces & bodies, came to my studio to pose. this became the source for a series of paintings that were very popular with the greek art buying public and became the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
when i returned to the states, i settled in nyc, where i became a member of one of the foremost realist galleries at the time: fischbach, at the time located on 57th st. my paintings during that period were of nyc architecture, many of which contained figures strolling down the street. my work can be found in the collections of many individual and corporate collections, including american express, chemical bank & others as well as museum collections such as the hirshhorn museum & sculpture garden in washington, d.c. and the collection of the u.s. state department.
my wife mikela and i moved to crestone, in the sangre de christo foothills of the san luis valley 25 years ago. we built our house and my studio, both at 8,000 ft.. recently, i've entered what i consider to be the most productive and interesting chapter of my life as an artist. the knowledge and skills i gained while painting landscapes and figures in greece, as well as my many plein air excursions to make paintings at our local creeks, are being integrated into a new form of expression which, in all huimility, i would describe as uniquely tarlowesque.
recently, we watched the tokyo olympics on tv. at the end, there was a celebration, with acrobats, dancers and singers dressed in very beautiful costumes. i found photos of the celebration online and printed some of them out. they became the source of inspiration for the paintings you see in this exhibition. the dancing, leaping figures reflect how i felt at the moment i realized my vision would remain intact. they have been integrated into an abstracted landscape, with collaged elements that introduce unexpected shapes and colors and interrupt that predictability i so dislike in a painting. they introduce a complexity of meanings, resulting in a richness of marks and a surface that allows the viewer to revisit the painting and have a new experience each time.
and this afternoon I completed framing these 2 watercolor/collages, which I think look pretty good on the grey board I selected.
