America on a First Name Basis

My paintings come from a love of the back roads and small towns of America. I grew up on the road — constantly moving, state to state, town to town — and that restless childhood became the lens through which I see everything. Those long hours staring out a car window at passing storefronts, lit diners, and weathered signs became the vocabulary of my work.

My current series focuses on businesses and restaurants that carry a first name — often the name of the owner. These are the cornerstones of community life. They give a town its identity and its soul. Many are in decline, quietly disappearing as independent owners are replaced by brands with no story. I want to paint them before they’re gone.

“These places are the backbone of another era. I want to document every line, every brick, every weathered sign.”

I prefer twilight and nighttime for my work — hours when familiar places become something more, half-lit and full of quiet mystery. The photorealistic finish is achieved through many hours of careful attention: studying light on-site, photographing from multiple angles, then returning to the studio to compose on oil on wood panel. I work small and intimate, because I want viewers to lean in, to discover the painting rather than simply see it.

The Original: Why Zingerman’s

This year’s poster is called “The Original” — a title with a double meaning that felt exactly right. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original, is one of the oldest juried art fairs in the country — and the only one dedicated exclusively to original, one-of-a-kind works of art. No prints, no reproductions. Just art made by hand, made to last, made once. And Zingerman’s Delicatessen, opened in 1982 in a building that has stood on Detroit Street since 1902, is Ann Arbor’s original deli. Two OGs. One painting.

I chose Zingerman’s because it embodies everything my work is about: a place with a name, a history, and genuine character. The old brick building, the cobblestone street, the worn charm of a place that has been a gathering spot for generations — it’s exactly the kind of subject I travel the country searching for. If you love Ann Arbor, you know Zingerman’s.

“The brick streets, the old brick building. It has the kind of character that only comes from age, from use, from meaning something to the people who know it.”

Ann Arbor & The Fair

Ann Arbor changed my life.

That is not a phrase I use lightly. I was exhibiting at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair in 1999 when a woman wandered into my booth. She had returned to the University of Michigan for a master’s degree in art and was spending the summer as a teaching fellow. She happened to also be a massage therapist, offering neck massages to some of the artists. She wandered over to me. That woman became my wife. Twenty-six years later, I am the featured artist of the fair where we met.

“Ann Arbor is where I met my wife. I met her doing the art fair. It changed my life.”

Ann Arbor is the quintessential American college town — beautiful, alive, full of culture and history. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original, has been a part of this city’s story since 1960, and there is nothing else like it: a fair built entirely around original, one-of-a-kind art. That philosophy is exactly what I believe in as a painter. Every piece I make exists once. To be the featured artist of the fair where I met my wife — a fair that shares that same devotion to the original — is something I hold close. “The Original” is a love letter to this city, this fair, and a place on a cobblestone street that, for anyone who knows Ann Arbor, needs no introduction.