I have lived and worked in New York all my life. As a New Yorker, I feel a personal and deep connection to this rich, energetic, and beautiful city with its amazingly diverse population. My objective is to paint about the people of New York, realistically and with compassion.

I have expressed my strongly held feelings about peace and justice; deep outrage to war, injustice, and torture are conveyed in some of my paintings. With regard to these themes, I have been inspired by Old Masters such as Caravaggio, Goya, Kollwitz, and Picasso.

I choose to paint realistically because I believe realism is truth and truth is beauty. I derive an aesthetic pleasure in skillfully done realistic drawings and paintings. I believe that realism can communicate ideas strongly and it is this communication that is extremely important to me.