Most passionate, focused, and driven about my art, friends, animals, and particular old vehicles. At my core is a creative, humorous, thoughtful, honest, outgoing, catalyst and protagonist. I am additionally conduit - effervescently capable of mirroring dispositions and methodically executing hot/cold comeuppance. Possessing more intestinal fortitude than most Americans is resplendent.
Never taken a puff on a cigarette - let alone never having tried alcohol or drugs. That 'stuff' is here to keep us stupid and manageable. Straightedge? As close as you will find modern day but not by the original definition~
Never been to a strip club either, although for some reason entertainers find me fascinating. How does that work?
Through warm months I dig biking/motorcycling/scootering. Winter months my outdoor activity is limited to snowboarding (riding Burton for 24 years).
Don't get me started on any post-natal genetic re-engineering. Nothing half-assed here...no small gauges and no small tattoos. Those are for the indecisive.
Initially I took a neon class for an upper division art elective as an undergraduate in Graphic Design. Within the course of the semester, my natural skills became apparent - and progressed further than the professor's, who had been teaching for 20 years! My three strongest points (design, color theory, and space relations) harmoniously combined with loads of hand/eye coordination and acute attention to detail. Who knew? My professor continued to push as I became his protege. This artform chose me and I am grateful for it.
After college I went to a proper neon school and learned the trade. Upon graduating, I served a formal 5 year apprenticeship between a few different sign shops. (There is never enough work to keep me busy.) The first place saw me bend 130 Applebee's signs. Ick! At the second place I bent literally dozens of Bruegger's Bagel Bakery signs. Crap! Third place, guess what? 280 Arizona Ice Tea window signs. The fourth place I single handedly outfitted all the glass for SIX Target locations - each store had several thousand feet of glass. Enough was enough! Repetition did me in and dreams rigorously reflected that...
Get Bent Neonworks launched in 1997 - and Ohio DMV has been denying me GETBENT vanity plates ever since. This creative studio has enabled a diverse array of neon related works to grace numerous museums, private collections, and businesses, in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Commercial signage comprises less than 20% of my output - so you best have an impressive logo if you want me to do it!
Frequently, works are undersold if they are pieces I need in my portfolio. There are many directions that have not yet been seen with neon because they haven't been done. <---Galleries take note - especially one in Manhattan. I have an idea. Actually, copious concepts. I'm chockablock full with the aptitude to back them up. So what restrains me? Funding on a larger scale.
Many want to see examples of my work. Basic samples to froth over:
