I grew up on the upper eastside of Manhattan in New York City, in a large Italian family. As far back in my childhood as I can remember, I was always painting and drawing. My parents frequently took me to the wonderful museums in the city, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art became my favorite. When I was old enough, I often stopped there on my way home from school, spending countless hours studying and drawing the incredible works of art.

When I was 15 we moved to Malibu, California and a year later I began my formal training as an artist at UCLA. I studied a wide range of relevant styles and media; realism, impressionism, expressionism, minimalism, conceptual art, photography, film, etc. An extended period of study with hyper-realist painter James Valerio had the most impact on my technique as a realist. In 1979 I completed my undergraduate work at UCLA and received a B.F.A.

Around 1980 I also became interested in opera and began studying voice with contralto Louise Caselotti, consummate opera singer and voice teacher who had taught Maria Callas in 1946-47. Studying with Louise for over fifteen years, I developed a beautiful tenor voice and we became the best of friends. She was an extraordinary woman and she changed my life profoundly. I am eternally grateful to her.

In 1983 I completed my graduate studies at UCLA and received an M.F.A. Since then I have been showing my work nationwide, receiving prestigious awards and commissions along the way.

In 1993-94, I was commissioned by the school board of Pasadena to design and execute a 12’ x 70’ mural for an interior corridor of the Wilson Middle School. During the execution of the mural, which depicted art history and multiculturalism, I taught classical mural painting techniques to advanced art students. Hugely successful, the mural boosted school morale and ended grafitti.

Later in the nineties, I produced a series of urban landscapes in Los Angeles en plein air. For over two years my studio became the locales I chose for these works; a dilapidated motel on Sunset Boulevard, and Echo Park Lake, with its magnificent stand of palm trees. I made many friends with the people who frequented these places, and I was touched to see my work inspire them over time. As a result of this wonderful, life affirming experience, the MTA of Los Angeles commissioned me to do a painting of Echo Park Lake, to be used as a poster on buses and subways citywide.

More recently, I have returned to portraits and figure compositions, applying techniques of the Flemish and Venetian schools of painting. Essential to the paintings of Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Van Eyck, such techniques include grisaille, glazing, scumbling, and the dynamic of transparent shadow and opaque light in a painting. In early 2007, I received invaluable help and advice on these subjects from realist painter Martha Mayer Erlebacher, to great effect on my work.

Besides art, my other interests include meditation, physical exercise, classical music and opera. Over the years I have divided my time living either in Malibu, close to my parents and siblings, or in certain older parts of Los Angeles, such as Hollywood, Silverlake, and Echo Park.