Artist Statement
Photo by Harvey Tillis.
I believe landscapes carry emotional residue — the accumulated weight of every season, every storm, every quiet afternoon — and my work is an attempt to make that residue visible. I paint what the world looks like when you are finally still enough to see it.
Working in oil and cold wax, I build layer upon layer of color and texture that mirror the way memory itself accumulates — imprecise, layered, more true for being inexact, building and scraping back to create history. I want the viewer to sense the hour changing, to stand at the edge of a field and recognize something they have always known but never quite named; viewing a seascape and feeling they have been there before.
Beginning my formal studies in 1989 at The University of Chicago, I have worked on figure drawing, watercolor, acrylic, and oil. I have worked with Janis Pozzi-Johnson, my teacher and mentor, for several years and consider her a major influence in my work. I have also studied at The Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian Institute, The Evanston Art Center, The North Shore Art League, and The Winslow Art Center.
Further influences include J.W. Turner, Claude Monet, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter, Gustave Courbet and my grandfather, Albert Dierberger.
Curriculum vitae:
Education
2021 - Present; Private study with Janis Pozzi-Johnson
2022 - 2023; Winslow Art Center
2006 - 2022; Evanston Art Center, Oil Painting, Drawing, Evanston, IL
2021; Sotheby’s, Certificate in Art History: Renaissance to Present
1989; University of Chicago, Drawing classes, Chicago, IL
Representation
2025 - Present; Grove Gallery, Evanston, IL
2024-Present; J. Andrew Salon, Chicago, IL
2024 - 2025; Celestial Art Curation, Hinsdale, IL
2024 - present; La Grange Art League, La Grange, IL
2024 - present; Chicago Art Source, Chicago, IL
2022 - 2023; Arch, Winnetka, IL
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2023 “Art on Display,” J. Andrews Salon, Chicago, Illinois.
2023 “Kaleidoscope,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois
2021 "Art Attack," Arch Apothecary, Vintage and Home, Winnetka, Illinois.
2020 "In the Moment': A Virtual Backdrop Exhibition," The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois.
Group Exhibitions
2026 Juried Art Exhibition: Horizions, The Waterscapes, Grove Gallery, Evanston, IL
2025 Juried Art Exhibition, Small Works, Chicago Fine Art Salon, Chicago, IL
2025 Juried Art Exhibition, Small Works, Grove Gallery, Evanston, IL
2024 Juried Art Exhibition, La Grange Art League, La Grange, IL
2024 “Inspired By,” North Shore Art League, Winnetka, IL
2024 “Four Artists, Four Walls,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, IL
2024 “Chicago, People & Places”, The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, IL
2023 “Rostrum 312,” Bridgeport, Illinois.
2022 "Flowers 4 Peace and Prosperity," Red Bluff Art Gallery, International Juried Show, Corning, California.
2021 "Real People," International Juried Show, Woodstock Fine Arts Center, Woodstock, Illinois.
2021 “Four-Person Exhibition,” Arch Apothecary, Vintage and Home, Winnetka, Illinois.
2021, “Abstractions,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois.
2021, “The Color Red,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois,
2021 "Shades of Black & White," The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois.
2020 "Divine Femininity," The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois
2019 "Open House," Hubbard St. Lofts, Chicago, Illinois.
Awards
2024, September, Honorable Mention, - Juried La Grange Art League Exhibition for “Evening Lagoon”.
Corporate Collections
Presbyterian Living, Evanston, Illinois
Prairie Capital LP, Chicago, Illinois.
Workbox, Chicago, Illinois.
Interviews
2023 “Meet the Maker,” Interviewed by Amy Kartheiser of Amy Kartheiser Design, Episode 24, Instagram.
Performances
2024 ”Blueshift Big Band Vinyl Release of JOYSTICK JAZZ Vol. 2,” (Visual artist)
2023 “Greg Fundis Trio,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois (Visual Artist)
2023 “Diego Rodriguez Big Band,” The Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois (Visual Artist)