About the artist:

Guggenheim Fellowship - 1970 EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS University of Iowa, M.F.A. 1962 University of Nebraska, B.F.A., 1958 Assistant Professor of Art, The Cooper Union, New York City, 1968-1975 Council Member of Society of American Graphic Artists, New York, 1980-1982 COLLECTIONS - MUSEUM & INDIVIDUAL James A. Michener Art Museum Whitney Museum of Art University of Delaware Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Prince Charles & Lady Diana, London Museum of Modern Art, New York President Francois Mitterand, Paris National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museo Municipal de Arts Graficas, Mara Caibo J.P. Morgan Library, New York New York Public Library, New York Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis Minnesota Museum of Art, Minneapolis Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY Kemper Art Collection, Chicago Arkansas Art Center Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Harvard University Library Columbia University Library, New York Williams College Arizona State University Ohio State University Newberry Library, Chicago Brooklyn College, New York Southern Illinois University Davidson College New Orleans Fine Arts Museum Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Hunterdon County Justice Center N.J. State Council on Arts Acquisition Award, 1987 N.J. Governor's Official Residence (Drumthwachet) National Gallery of Ireland GROUP EXHIBITIONS Grolier Club, New York American Associated Artists, New York Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C. Van Straten Gallery, Chicago Whitney Museum of Art Brooklyn Museum of Art New York Public Library The Print Club, Philadelphia Philadelphia Museum of Art Museo de Arte Moderno, Colombia Borgia Palace, Vatican city National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Palace of the Legion of Honor The New School, New York Honolulu Academy of Arts Decodova Museum of Fine Art Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester Memorial Art Center, Little Rock Minnesota Museum of Art Far Gallery, New York Anchorage Fine Arts Museum Narudin Gallery, Boston University Art Gallery, Albany, New York University of Massachusetts Davidson College Southern Illinois University Oklahoma Art Center Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris National Academy of Design, New York Museo Municipal de Arts Graficas, Mara Caibo MAJOR EXHIBITIONS & SHOWS Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1963 - Solo Exhibition Whitney Museum of American Art, 1970 - Five New York Printmakers Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, 1972 & 1980 - Retrospective New York University, 1970 - Solo Exhibition Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1973 - Solo Exhibition Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa, 1973 & 1980 - Retrospective The Print Club, Philadelphia, 1980 - Retrospective American Associated Artists, 1970 & 1980 - Retrospective St. MaryÍs College, Maryland, 1975 - Solo Exhibition University of Maine, 1975 - Solo Exhibition Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1976, 1979 & 1983 - Retrospective Van Stratten Gallery, Chicago, 1976 & 1979 - Retrospective Borgia Palace, Rome, 1976 - Vatican Exhibition Channel 13, New York, 1979 - Artist Presentation New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, 1985 - Retrospective Antiquarian Society, London, England - Solo Exhibition Galerie Lucie Weill, Paris - Solo Exhibition University of Maine - Solo Exhibition Clinton Art Center - Solo Exhibition Stover Mill, Erwinna, PA - Solo Exhibition San Jose, Costa Rica (Exhibition and Promotion of La Marta Project, 1996) PUBLICATIONS, AWARDS & LECTURES "Liberal Content" - 1962 "Iowan" - 1963 "laRevue Modernes des Arts de la Vie," Paris - 1964 New Jersey Council of Arts, 1988 - Purchase Award Davidson College, 1973 - Purchase Award The Print Club, 1975 - Purchase Award Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia, South America, 1976 - Purchase Award National Academy of Design, 1979 - Purchase Award Brooklyn Museum of Art School - Lecture Webster College, St. Louis - Lecture Gilford College, Greensboro, N.C., - Lecture American Associated Artists, International Collection, 1971, 1973, 1975 & 1978 Collaboration with Samuel Beckett (7 Engraved Images for The Lost Ones, 1984) ULACIT, San Jose, Costa Rica (La Marta Project, 1996) La Marta Documentary Video (1997) Emory University, Atlanta, Lecture < Word & Image: Samuel Beckett & the Visual Text (1999) National Gallery of Ireland (2006) Beckett Centenary Festival: Beckett & The Visual Arts, Dublin, Ireland Artist Statement: My art is the creative act of giving shape and form to the demonic and angelic images that lie within the shadowland of our living essence; the unknown anxiety of despair and meaninglessness in the face of our non-being. What draws me to Icarus facing death ... God Pan in despair ...the Furies roaming the world in a state of mental imbalance ... draws me to this abyss. What holds me at bay is the existential realism of our non-being. The creative act is my affirmation of being in the face of the abyss of nothingness. My work then is an expression of Existential Realism. Unlike fantasy art, existential realism does not rely on escaping the concept of being for the idyllic sense of well-being. It is not an escapist act. In entering the shadowland, the artist does not conceptualize what he wishes or is known. Instead, he moves his vision beyond the collective consciousness into the archetypal form of the collective unconsciousness, the undefined and disturbing emotions, felt but unseen, and from these felt and unseen forms he must create shapes and images that can be assimilated into understandable forms. These images --- nightmarish, fantastical and terrifying --- may be beautiful and mysterious, obscene or crude, but in all cases they create a certain imbalance that reflects the anxiety of our collective selves. Their existence demands a reflection of our meaninglessness, of the superficial reality that has no affirmation of self in what we call the meaning of our lives. Thus, these images draw us into the mystery of our unconscious being. If these images are unsettling, they are meant to be. For if we do not acknowledge the wonders of this unknown, abstract non-being world, we become like sleepwalkers of our own delusionary dreams. If we negate our non-being, we negate our being and our only hope for the affirmation of our potential self. Knowledge is looking into the eye of the storm. Being and non-being is the Janus face of our existence. Existential Realism is not a recent phenomenon. It has always been with us. It is the representation of the spirit world and gives solace to our feelings of isolation, of our existential self, from the physical world around us. Cave paintings, sculptures from Africa and New Guinea, are all excellent examples of Existential Realism. These are part of the existential realm in the concept of defining a reality of our non-being, the void into which we all disappear. We draw on these forms for strength and understanding. When we do not, estrangement from our physical world becomes overbearing and a sense of hopelessness and despair prevails.