about the artist
I'm influenced by a lot of different things. If I could narrow it down a bit, I would say that motion pictures have been the strongest influence on my paintings. I'm particularly fond of the Film Noir pictures from the 40's and 50's. The genre of Film Noir is a uniquely American group of films that emerged just after the second world war and stretched until about 1959( the release of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil) It is strongly influenced by German expressionism, nuclear-age paranoia, and general fear of "the red menace". I'm influenced by the mood and the lighting of these movies and sometimes the themes in them as well. I also really enjoy looking at old images of Sideshows and turn of the century magic acts. I love the way mysticism and the occult used to be portrayed back then.

The images of the horned people are inspired by a 14th century sculptor named Claus Sluter. Sometime in the late 1300's, he carved "The Well of Moses". Due to a mistranslation of the Hebrew verb for "emitting rays of light" to the Hebrew noun for "a display of horns", he depicted Moses with a set of horns sticking out of his temples. For the next few centuries, it became normal to portray him that way. Even Michelangelo sculpted Moses with horns. It's remarkable how in any other context, a person or being with horns in that arrangement may be perceived as evil or devilish. I created a character in my sketchbooks named Chester, who woke up to find that horns had sprouted from his temples. Imagine the discrimination a "regular guy" like Chester might experience with those horns. What kind of job could he hold down? What would his day to day life be like?