Original vintage abstract expressionist painting titled "Nocturne 8" by Darren Jekel 1885. Mixed media on paper signed dated and titled bottom edge. Measuring overall 19 x 25" framed. ARTIST STATEMENT I am the kind of guy that needs proof. So I paint. I paint landscapes with gardens, with natural elements and sometimes mythological ones. I paint order and chaos. I paint tender visual space and bad ass tough physicality. I paint fighter jets... maybe because my dad was a fantastic pilot. Mostly I try to paint things I am not capable of expressing. When I get it right, I smile with the glimmering sense that I exist. My painting has been greatly influenced by Wayne Thiebaud. He taught me how to oil paint at UC Davis. I use his color palette, heavy brush sensuality, and under-painting technique. It was Anselm Kiefer who inspired my landscape painting, my recklessness, my inner alchemist, and the notion that the creator needs the destroyer. Finally, Henri Matisse’s example reminds me every every time that I paint- minimal is maximal. EDUCATION MFA Maryland Art Institute, Mt Royal School of Painting BA Art Studio, UC Davis TEACHING Art teacher, Middletown High School, California Marin Academy, Marin California SELECTED ART EXHIBITIONS AART Group Gallery, Carmel, CA American College, Washington DC Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Grand Opening. Finely Community Center, Santa Rosa, CA Finegood Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Forum Gallery, Jamestown, NY Gallery Route One, Pt Reyes Station, CA Middletown Art Center, Middletown, CA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Artists Gallery, SF, CA Sebastopol Art Center, Sebastopol, CA Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, MD COLLECTIONS Adobe Corporation and numerous private