MactruQue was the name given to me at birth, and it is from that creative beginning that I derive lore as a painter. Growing up, I often heard my parents recount the story of being only two when I was left alone with a brush and gallon of peach paint. They said it took me barely five minutes to completely cover every square inch of their piano, with hardly a drop of paint to be found elsewhere, as though I had been framed for the act. I have many stories which seem to have worked like setups to stand out, and by the time I was eight had learned that I could charge a dollar for drawings of horses for girls, and helicopters and jets for boys. What was second nature for me was expression, more than skill, and when our large family moved from Jacksonville, Florida to New Hampshire, my interests expanded into a variety of endeavors while being homeschooled on a goatfarm. It is from this idyllic decade of life that I source most of my roots. The fervent separatist nature of our family led to equally independent views of my own as I grew into a peculiar world view which continues to be reflected in my work. Upon returning to Jacksonville as a young man, I bounced through middle management jobs I thought would teach me about the world I had been shielded from. Having never played a video game, I became manager of an arcade. Having never been to the movies, I became a projectionist... Having no bearing for how the modern world worked, I jumped in and out of security work in various types of nightlife. As I worked my way through some idea of what drives local culture, I began dabbling in the nature of the professional arts while managing a music store at the beach. It was there that I began to have some bearing on the personalities which make up a major American town, and I began trading art for billboards for the promotion of local music on the radio. Each work experience gave me an unusual amount of freedom and insight, and I found myself the personal assistant of a railroad vice president, who gave me guidance toward a world view which led to abandoning the hourly workforce at the age of twenty seven to devote my time to art and the burgeoning Riverside arts scene. I was almost instantly volunteered to be the director of the freewheeling arts community where I assisted an intriguing set of characters who are to this day valuable voices shaping the region as we know it. After a few years, the near utopian center for the arts would collapse under land developments which would introduce my exit strategy from the perpetual public eye by championing an idea for an Artwalk which the city promptly adopted. Since that time, I have contributed consistently to the arts as a quiet background force that may be found woven into the personality of the city, attempting to provide thoughtfulness and atmosphere with every opportunity that finds its way into my mysterious studios.