Joe can’t recall which inclination came first: drawing or sculpting. Both go back to his earliest memories, where pencils and Play Dough were his constant companions. As things turned out, he painted professionally for over ten years before he got his first chance at sculpting on the same level. In that regard, he owes a debt of gratitude to Bob Chapman, of Graphitti Designs. Bob gave him his first commission in 1993 (see Doc Savage/Giant Python sculpt), before Joe had any sample work to show. Joe has sculpted continuously ever since. So far he has created figures from a few inches to over one and a half times life size.

Part of what made this possible was the advent of Super Sculpy, a synthetic clay which could be fired in a home oven. This made it feasible to ship a finished sculpture to wherever it had to go and have it get there in one piece (though not always!). This seemed to coincide with the explosion in the collectibles market, and a new niche was created that did not seem to exist before in such a lucrative way.

Another material that Joe uses, paraffin wax (or a derivative mixture), could also be used in the same way in that it is easy to ship. But its qualities are very different than that of clay. Astoounding detail is possible with such materials and it is used primarily for the toy industry. For larger pieces, Joe prefers Chavant P40, a clay with a tremendous range of plasticity - from rock hard to liquid, depending on temperature - which also lacks the fumes associated with traditional plasticine.

The discipline of painting required a much steeper learning curve than did that of sculpting. Partly, this was because he had so much to learn as an artist when he started painting. When he began sculpting, much of this experience naturally transferred over and it was mainly the craft that he had to learn, as opposed to the other intangibles associated with art. Sculpture also came much more intuitively and the step into the third dimension was comparatively painless. He quickly gained an equal footing in both arts.

Joe feels the need for good drawing and mastery of illusion are as necessary in sculpture as they are in painting; albeit of a different nature. The drawing is over a three dimensional contoured surface and the illusion is in creating effective marks and patterns within the composition to help control the fall of light. Of course a major difference between painting and sculpture in the round is the need to be constantly aware of the full 360° surface area of a sculpture. This needs to be immediately considered for basic composition and constantly observed for correct proportion.

Unlike illustration in which Joe had many accessible influences, sculpting is completely self taught in terms of not having taken courses. He has, however, intensely studied many of the traditional masters, Michelangelo, Bernini and Rodin chief among them. He has found the Dover art book collection invaluable and places great treasure in the books by the late 19th/early 20th century sculptor and teacher Edouard Lanteri, particularly his ‘Modeling and Sculpting the Human Figure.’ Another indirect but powerful influence on his sculpting were master anatomist John Zahourek’s classes and seminars on human and comparative anatomy. Joe attended several while at Parsons and throughout the 1980’s.

When all is said and done, Joe says his experiences in the fields of painting and sculpture have led to the inescapable conclusion that a great way to improve as a painter is to sculpt, and a great way to improve as a sculptor is to paint. He considers each to one half of an artistic whole.