American art critic and art historian Joseph Masheck studied History of Art at Columbia University. In the late 1970s Masheck served as editor-in-chief of 'Artforum', was later a contributing editor of 'Art in America', and then consulting editor of 'The Brooklyn Rail'. A Guggenheim Fellow, he has taught at Columbia, Harvard, and Hofstra universities, and was also Centenary Fellow of Edinburgh College of Art. Plovarius was painted in Dublin while completing an M.Litt. in esthetics at Trinity College.