You have to make thousands and thousands of drawings before an illustration is perfected.
I'm also interested in creating a lasting legacy for collectors because bronze will last for thousands of years so I'm not really selling the art to this particular collector but it is being passed on.
I was tired of illustration. You'd work so hard on a commission and it would go in to a magazine, and you'd turn the page and it was gone.
I'm always looking for the next challenge.
I'm a classically trained painter, and I was an illustrator in New York working with Fortune 500s companies as well as the NBA and the Olympics. I first got into sculpting when I created a sculpture based on a painting I had done for the 1984 Olympics.
I never had a job. I bought my first house within a year of getting out of school, and I built a custom one four and a half years later. The Art Center didn't teach much about business, but I learned a lot from the Fortune 500 companies that were my clients.
Charity work is very important to me and gives me an opportunity to give back to my community. I've always been a big supporter of many different charities, have donated millions of dollars to them, and it just feels great to do and be able to help others, especially children.
Sculpture will last a lot longer than painting.
My goal is to make fine art, and fine art comes from the soul. If you have virtuosity and facility, you can take and create something of significance.
I don't do commissions and I like the freedom to create what my heart or mind tells me to.
I create for artistic intent only and do everything from life.
At any one time, I'll have 30 to 40 pieces going on in the studio, so this is not economically driven at all.
I've had over a dozen models come in and pose fro me live for these new Cirque pieces. Cirque is a world-wide phenomenon and they are just incredible athletes. I've been to all the performances and am really fascinated by all of their productions.
There is a connection between me and the collectors, and as admirers of the work they tell me about the differences the pieces are able to make in their lives on a daily basis.
China is important to the world in that they are a force and on the move. Exposing them to figurative art opens up a potential for artistic expression far greater than anyone would ever have dreamed possible until today. It is this very spirit of the struggle and determination to triumph that inspires creative expression.
I was headed in the wrong direction. I didn't think I'd make it to 21. My Uncle Chuck saved my life. He was a graphic designer, and he gave me my first sketchbook. In the front, he wrote, 'Wear it like your underwear.'
The greatest success is creating whatever you want without conditions. I don't do commissions unless I really want to, because it's like having a job.
I cannot tell you how many people, powerful people, come to my studio and they are in tears they are so moved by what they see.
I can actually feel the interior body of a dancer. I have the ability to capture a split second... I want you to be hit with whatever the essence is of this sculpture.
These guys are just flying through the air and I'm capturing them in the split second and putting it into a work of art, via clay to the bronze.
