Rectangular Structure in My Montage Paintings

The author describes his change from being a student of mathematics to that of being a painter, after studying with George Grosz. Through Grosz, the author was led to study Brueghel, and the Dutch masters and their art, together with Byzantine mosaics and African sculpture, have remained a major influence in his work. A study of the paintings of De Hooch and Vermeer was also helpful from the point of view of the way those artists were able to control their large shapes, even when disparate elements were included within these shapes. Also, the author describes the influence upon him of examples of Chinese paintings and his method of working with mounted layers of torn papers. Both the similarities as well as the differences to Cubism in his style are described in detail, with the hope that the structural content of his work will be understood and even more valued than its social message.