LACERTILIA Painting

I am a painter, illustrator, creative designer, and master craftsman/machinist based in the always inspiring borough of Brooklyn, NY. I have been working as a professional in the art and custom fabrication worlds for more than 20 years. After so much time spent as a figurative illustrator and furniture maker, my current work in fluid acrylic abstraction has opened up new avenues of expression for me. All of my paintings culminate at the point at which chemistry and creativity intersect. I’m painting on upcylced materials with high-end powdered pigments, which I hand mix and suspend into various recipes of painting mediums. Many of these pigments have metallic and/or color-shifting properties, and when layered based on specific qualities and densities, the achievable effects are mesmerizing. Each painting is not only one of a kind, the pieces are in constant optical flux to the observer, sparkling, shimmering, and always transforming depending on the angle of the light and the perspective of the viewer. Aside from creating work that is visually pleasing, another goal of mine is repurposing off-cuts of a variety of materials by turning them into something new, useful, and beautiful. Working in a high-end fabrication shop, making everything from furniture, to museum displays, to giant sculptures, I am constantly bothered by the amount of waste that inherently exists in the fabrication industry. Whenever possible, I rescue what I can from what is destined for the dumpster - materials ranging from hardwood to plywood to plexiglass, and do my best to upcycle them into things people will want. I want my art to be work where people can discover one-of-a-kind, handmade, and totally originally pieces to bring color to their walls and their lives, and at the same time, feel good about knowing they’ve also done something positive for our planet.