Burton J. Dodge

Burton J. Dodge creates a new art for a new century by blending arts and the traditions of the Old Masters. "I don't think there's a separation; it's the same thing," says Dodge, an eclectic whose range encompasses everything from portraits, classic nudes, and seascapes to wall murals and outdoor advertising.

Born in Neptune, NJ, in 1949, the largely self-taught Dodge learned technique and color by studying the works of the Old Masters. He began his professional artistic career as a freestyle sign painter at the Jersey Shore in 1975. His career achieved new heights in 1985, when he painted the skin of an advertising blimp for Seaworld. In the past 11 years he has "freestyled' 17 blimps, which he prefers to call "airships," for such clients as Kroger, Budweiser and MetLife. In 1994 he painted the world's first psychedelic airship, thanks to a commission from the rock group Pink Floyd.

Dodge, prefers structures that lets him portray subjects larger than life. The size, he says, "creates a sense of awe in the eyes of the person looking at the work of art and makes him see things in a whole new perspective."