"Stoddelmeier" Painting

After a long and successful career as an art director and designer in the fields of graphics, products, and user interface, my focus is once again on fine art. I've also been an illustrator for Detroit, Michigan based publications and for a time, designed and marketed sumptuous carpets for clients such as high end retail stores. My work is driven by the often felt absurdity of living. One has to have a bit of a sense of humor in order to survive a life that can be overwhelming and includes that consciousness of the fates that await us. My depictions of human and animals are usually one in the same and my paintings portray characters as friends and friends as characters. Important in my work is my design sense in appreciating shapes and forms of living beings as well as inanimate objects such as trains or hats. My influences include contemporary or historical cultural references ranging from ancient military insurrections to childhood memories of being enamored by Universal Studios films of classic monsters.