Although most of the bridge series is scattered in homes around the region, this page allows you to view the entire bridge series united under one virtual roof. You will notice that though most bridges are represented with monotypes, there are sometimes multiple versions of the same piece: perhaps an oil or a drawing as well as a monotype.

This is a reflection of the process by which I work. I almost always start with a drawing, then I paint that, then I do a monotype from the painting, and so forth with each image more abstract than the last.

I am hardly the first artist to paint a bridge (think of Monet's London Bridge series or Christo's wrapped Pont Neuf). Why do I and artists like me keep revisiting seemingly arbitrary this topic. Why is a bridge more interesting than a subway stop, for example?

I was first attracted to bridges by their fascinating architecture. They are full of hard edges, which produce glaring contrasts between light and dark. This works very well with the supercharged palette that I employ. Furthermore, and they are unique among architecture in this, bridges create great sweeping curves and arches, which I find exciting and almost figurative.

Bridges also have rich symbolic importance. They are masterworks of engineering, representing humanity's unquenchable yearning to reach the far shore. Bridges do more than just taking us to an otherwise unreachable destination: they actually bring that destination to us, breaking down barriers and transforming real distances in nominal ones.¹

This points to two important aspects of human nature.

Humans have an innate desire to overcome obstacles. Why did the man climb the mountain? Because it's there. Such aspiration gives humans incredible potential to reach the skies (indeed, beyond!) or to transform a piece of paper into an image or an icon.

Second, and no less importantly, conquering distance is a necessary precondition of commerce, which is absolutely essential to our being. I'm not speaking of the trade of goods and services for money, of but the exchange of ideas and interaction between people. Society itself is the result of this interplay.

Bridges are therefore testaments to our humanity--both as restless souls and as social creatures. It is rare to be able to explore such fundamental issues manifested with such beauty and grace as one finds in a bridge

1. Consider a river that is thirty meters wide, but so treacherous as to be unnavigable. In real terms, that distance might as well be a hundred kilometers, for crossing it would require a colossal effort and much time. If a bridge is in place, however, that distance is exactly thirty kilometers, both as the crow flies or as the snail crawls. [Back to text]