I paint to overcome society's current malaise, fed by humanities discontent, pain, and suffering. The causes to name a few are many, greed, inequalities and injustice.  Wars, murder, brutality, and oppression are everyday consequences of this lifestyle humanity has created for itself.  It is clear now, should this way of life continue humanity will not survive.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR HIGH END INTERNATIONAL ART WORLD (Dealers, Galleries, Critics, Collectors, and Artists)~please read note at the bottom of the page for you

MISSION STATEMENT~painting to create a better world and making available all works to anyone who loves them irregardless of finances, politics, race, gender or beliefs~YOU love and want a work, talk to me~I will work to make it happen~Joel

After attending art school at The Rhode Island School of Design I moved to New York City and worked for many years in the high end art world for famous artists and dealers, all the while making my own art.  I exhibited some and sold some work as well. Despite my efforts life in New York was very difficult and I decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a different environment and audience, one that focused more on popular arts and a more diverse audience. My greatest desire has always been to help humanity through my work and I felt the change from the small art world of New York would do me some good.  Los Angeles proved to be a good change, a break and a time to connect with a more popular art influenced by the film and television industry.  Besides the work I was doing on my own I began to do commissioned paintings, which helped me to better understand others needs in art, commission work became a big part of  my livelihood.  

NOTE TO ART WORLD~I've got a very important message in my painting and although it is not a popular one in the Art World today I think that if you take the time to look  you will see very quickly how relevant it is to our times.  There is a great need in the art world  for an artist like myself and you have the opportunity right now to join forces with me and ride this wonderful wave.  The work is very original, for it is my story and a new way to paint, and is unknowingly being anticipated by you and the greater world.  My message is about the necessity to nurture our love, and love for each other to save ourselves.  I am a very accomplished painter who has been able to produce a work that has brought together some of the best strengths in painting's history to date to create a work that is very much my own and carries my message and a new way to paint,  that makes perfect sense to us in its directness and simplicity.  With thought and study we wonder why this painting has not been created before and how it has been overlooked and we think to ourselves, "This artist Joel is on to something real HUGE, he's working with the most important issue of our day, THIS IS GONNA BE HUMONGOUS (and I want to be a part of this!!!). The complexity and magic behind the work inspires us to address our most pressing  issue of our day, LOVE, with much hope and enthusiasm.  I thank you for reading this far, and hope you will start by checking out the NEW PAINTINGS and FLOWER pages.  I was a part of you, the high end international art world in the 90's and decided to distance myself from this world and concentrate on making art for a more populous audience.  I never stopped painting and have been very successful with my art outside of this world, but now the maturity in my work, and for my vision to be realized I need to return to your art world to best express my life's work. I eagerly await your inspired thoughts and hope we can join forces and work together. Love, Joel 

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After many years in Los Angeles my mother became ill and it made sense to go back to North Carolina and help her, this was about 15 years ago.  Up until the last couple years much of my income has come from commissioned work, mostly abstract landscapes but really a whole mix of personal styles that I have developed during my 30 years of painting.  The last two years I have spent connecting better with myself and my artistic abilities and ambitions.  I have develped a whole new way of working and subject matter that I know is my most significant work to date. The work has much relevance to a diverse group of people today, both in and out of the art world something I have been working a lifetime to achieve. These paintings I refer to as The Flower Paintings.  My ambition is to take this work to the top of the art world, and become recognized for my particular vision, a vision that has great meaning to all of humanity for it reinforces the great value in love and the means to our survival as a species. 

I have painted most of my life.  My life has never been easy, most people I have come to know well would say the same of their lives. I paint to make a better world and my work breathes this truth.  I  was born in 1965 and I mostly grew up in Chapel Hill , North Carolina.  I am  the son of an American professor and Colombian mother who is a small creative business woman. I am mostly a loner and art is my passion.  Art is my means of connecting with myself and others, I am an artist. From the time I was a teenager, I have always felt I wanted to share parts of myself with the world through my art, I have much to express and have worked very hard to connect my art to  a larger audience. 

I think my hurt and my ambition to rise above it and thrive has propelled me to aspire to be recognized as a great artist.  The journey has been difficult and enlightening.  After 30 years of struggling with paint and my ambitions with art I have arrived at a means of painting that is testament to my life's goals.  In my life I have learned that love, more than anything else is our greatest strength as humans. It is for this reason that I have made love the subject of my painting.  I am in my early 50's now, and although I have always had much to say about life and it's undeniable beauty and wonder  in the face of adversity and dissappointments, it really is not until now that my work has matured to the point that it deserves to be recognized, shared, and celebrated at society's highest levels. I have a strong and meaningful art and by taking it to the top of the art world my  art could  reach many more  people.  The recognition would also allow me to make much more art.  This is a very exciting time in history to be making art and my life's work has just come together in the last few years and is ready to be appreciated by a large audience.   My message is extremely important and addresses a relevant means of making a better world for all of us, this being through love.  Our world is in crisis today and artists like myself are needed today to help regain the better parts of our humanity to help save ourselves from ourselves and make a better life for all of us and our whole planet.  Time is running out and I urge you to join forces with me to help turn this around and help find, nurture and support the greatest part of our shared humanity, love.  My work is about just this, and it's the most pressing issue of our day.   I am one of those real hard workers, I have worked hard my whole life and I plan on doing this until I die.  My hard work has always been to make art and fuel my belief and passion in the power of art and it's  role in making a better world for all of us.  I plan on dying with this same goal  and my painting will always be stronger because of this commitment to us and our ability to love.