Son of a Beach

He's been mostly semi-retired for a while now, but old Bear Whitman just can't help himself when one of those distressed damsels comes a-knockin'. Call it a bleeding heart. Call it foreplay. Call it whatever you want. He has a hard time saying no. So, when the estranged niece of media mogul Charles Etzo walked up to him at Nick's Bar on the Boardwalk that cloudy, 69 degree January Thursday as he was finishing the final few swallows of his third piña colada as well as a John D. MacDonald novel, and smiled her beaming white smile at him, he decided to give her his time and attention. Besides, she was blocking his view of the sea anyhow. Here we go. Again.

I was born (1981) and raised in rural Indiana. I recently moved to New York from San Francisco with my wife Lauren Carly Shaw, who is an artist as well. We live in Bushwick with our dog George. I am a painter that also works out of Brooklyn. I make large colorful paintings that draw heavily from post modern and surrealist histories. I attended Indiana University in Bloomington where I earned a BA in English and a BFA in Painting and was awarded the Harry Engels Scholarship for painting. I later earned my MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute where I was awarded a Presidential Fellowship. I have exhibited in museums and galleries nationally, and have artwork in several private collections.