I was born in San Antonio, Texas.  Somehow I always imagined I would be a painter. Since my mother lived far away, my father was an extremely busy doctor and I was an only child, my days were solitary and often unstructured. Like many children, drawing and trawling through illustrated books was my main occupation. Among my earliest memories are certain images, notably Charles Szaz's haunting illustrations for Grimm's Fairy Tales. My father's library contained an ecclectic assortment. What stands out are books on Diego Rivera, Picasso, Leger, the portrait sculptures from Benin, Da Vinci, the treasures of the city of Florence and Miro. At seven I began studying drawing and painting at the McNay Institute of Fine arts. At eleven, I was apprenticed to an elderly artist who made municipal sculptures. At fourteen, I was sent to live with my mother in New York City and discovered communes and the Metropolitan Museum. The Met became my true second home and there I discovered Medieval and Islamic art, particularly Persian miniatures. During that time, I was studying drawing at the Art Student’s League and, later, entered Pratt Institute.

While I was at Pratt, Hard Edge, Minimalism and Conceptual art were the styles most in vogue. Though I admired much of what I saw, particularly the earlier Abstract Expressionists, I had no desire to speak any of those languages. Perhaps because of an innate attraction to narrative, I came under the spell of film, beginning with Bergman, Fellini, Buñuel and Teshigahara. (I also began a wide-open love affair with music that has never left me; everything from Coltrane, Shostakovich, Flamenco to Bobby Blue Bland, Koto, the music of the Islamic world and onward.)