JPM. 10.2007.

At the age of five I moved to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a military base in the Marshall Islands where my father did work as a missile-tracking radar engineer. This island, three miles long and half a mile wide, six hours flight from Honolulu-- was my closest approximation of home. Some of my most pleasant dreams in slumber are of this tropical island, Kwajalein, this western-infused Micronesian civilization surrounded by and permeated by its native inhabitants and neighbors. Dreams are perhaps the only time I can visit this home. It's regretable and unfortunate, but hardly tragic. After all, in my travels and movement I constantly redefine home. And I don't fool myself, in some sense I do root myself; I grasp at the sensations of rooting and familiarity. It's not totally unknown. In a way, nowhere is home, but everywhere is home. My childhood and adolescence set forth a pattern of movement and relocation that has permanently instilled in me a sense of wanderlust and exploration. I learned to play the violin and play chess at a young age. I had ambitious hopes for a life as a scientist, engineer, or perhaps a doctor. But as fate and obstinence would have it I steered myself further into my creative, abstract passions and talents, fancying a life as an artist, an eccentric, an individual. Painfully narrow-minded, I didn't recognize how eccentric or unique and still brilliant a life of science could be. But I ended up where I did and I still try to piece it all together. I read books on math and physics on my own, I often work with computers to make a living. It's not such a far cry from my intial path. And something inside me still reminds me that if I were behind a schematic for a radar tracking system the intensity of the intellectual stimulation would be about equal to the anxiety and frustration of not being the artist I always wanted to be. Languages intrigue and fascinate me, however difficult they are for me to learn. I studied Spanish for several years, and flirt with it still in travels and with friends and film or media. German interests me immensely and has gotten the most of my attention. Eight months of lessons in Berlin, and as much practice as I can get from self-study, conversation, newspapers, novels, film, and writing letters. Working with art galleries and managing various design projects exclusively in German certainly helps. I always enjoy trying to learn bits of different languages, especially for travel. My travels are one of the most important, sustaining elements in my life. Thus far I have traveled through most of North America, a fair amount of Europe, to Mexico, Russia, North and East Africa, India + Nepal, gone overland in South East Asia, China, and had a glimpse of Japan. My US travels include a 1998 solo cross-country motorcycle trip from Boston to San Francisco and back. In 2001 I spent four months in India and Nepal riding a lot of trains and old buses, writing and reading, studying the sitar and hatha-yoga, and trekking three weeks in the Annapurna Himalaya. September 2003 I went to Istanbul and to the Black Sea on the Turkish coast. In 2004 I made a four week excursion through Portugal, Morocco and Spain. In early 2006 I spent another 6 weeks in India, this time touring the south. In 2007 I finally made it to Egypt to see the Great Pyramids, a childhood dream of mine. Sometimes new opportunites suddenly present themselves and I find myself on a spontaneous adventure to a land and people previously unknown to me. My future travel ideas include South America and more of the Middle East, but I'm always checking prices for flights back to India. In the last few years I have gradually begun doing more artwork again. I have a few new large oil paintings but mostly have been concentrating on printmaking and miniature acyrlic paintings as of late -- after several years concentrating on working, saving money, then traveling, and then adjusting to life and language in Germany. If you would like to send email: jpm (AT) redhaus.com (Please use a unique subject title to ensure delivery!) REDHAUS - Travel - Gallery - paint - print - propaganda