Swim With Me, 2010

In 2008, my studio and gallery on the New Jersey coast were destroyed by fire. In the aftermath of this loss, I relocated to Southern California and accepted representation with The Surf Gallery in Laguna Beach, which offered me a solo exhibition scheduled to open one year later. At the time, I did not know how—or where—to begin again. I turned instead to what I loved most: swimming in the sea. I spent countless hours in the water, often submerged beneath the surface, where the quiet and stillness allowed space for meditation and reflection as I began to envision what might come next in my career.

During this period, I began drawing women’s bodies floating calmly underwater. I also saw an opportunity to allow salvaged wood from the fire to re-emerge in a new body of work. I printed spiral-like forms and introduced color—an element that had rarely appeared in my practice—which ultimately became pivotal to my artistic direction. The compositions grew smaller, marked by expansive negative space and a sense of movement that emphasized the female form and its connection to the sea. Often depicted alone, these women embodied renewal and resilience: the body in motion, redefined, and strengthened through transformation.