Dooley Painting

I was raised in the USA and I now live in France. I have been painting and drawing since childhood. I studied drawing, painting and printmaking during my higher education. I taught drawing courses at the U of Chicago and The Art Institute of Chicago. I turned to abstraction after mastering realism. I've been oil painting in abstraction for several decades. My abstract work shares the same concerns as realism: relationships between colours, relationships between shapes, spatial issues and a quality of touch. The goal is different: I strive to invent a psychological environment rather than represent an existing one. The activity could be viewed as a quest for balance between the imagination 'running wild' and the cool reflection acquired by formal training. I believe this tension animates the paintings.