About

Born in Harrisburg, PA, I currently live in Brooklyn, NY. My new series is based on working behind the scenes as an art handler in NYC galleries.  My experiences range widely: from once being in a rainstorm holding a freshly touched up Matisse painting in one hand and a Monet in the other patiently waiting for an armed guard escort, to my life-like penis sculpture which was stolen at an art opening in Chelsea (see “Don’t Touch Mark Billy”).

My observations lead to notes – and these notes become my art.   In this series, I explore mundane objects that are often unnoticed.   The following are some short examples– tweets if you will– of my thought processes.

The two cardboard Trompe-l’oeil pieces titled “Rainforest 13 and 17” were extracted from a story I heard from a fellow art handler.  During the Armory exhibit, my friend used cardboard as a placeholder for a piece of art.  An art collector walking by mistook the cardboard for art and stated, ”This is the best artwork in the show.”  My friend thought this was hilarious as it was just a piece of cardboard –not art– in his eyes. 

While looking at Jeff Koons’ floating basketball, I thought, why not make this out of something else? So I did—I made it out of resin.  I felt the finished product was lacking something until one night it fell off my shelf--and broke. When it fell, it did not bounce nor did it deflate and its title became self-evident: “Humpty Dumpty.” When it cracked, like Duchamp’s broken glass, it transcended and became art. 

During a remodeling of your home or an installation of an art show one may see nails and holes in the wall and think nothing of it.   In my piece “Nailed” I change that.  Instead of covering up a hole in the wall – I want them to have an art piece perfectly suited for that space.

 I love when someone comes into my apartment and sees the piece “Carpenter” on the wall and asks me, “Why is there a piece of wood with nails on your wall?”  “It is one of my art pieces,” I say.  I pause, and for a moment I want the viewer to question my talent.  Then I, like a comedian, use the punchline: “It’s not wood. It’s not nails. It’s art.”