Artists Describing Their Art:
Jose Freitascruz - Borneo > 2003 The tropical rainforest and tales of maritime exploration continue to be reflected in my work. Indeed, travel and displacement condition my work - the many places I lived in throughout my childhood and those others my chronic wanderlust has led me to since then have always had an impact on the choices and directions I have taken. The knowledge that a new perspective can be acquired over things we believe to be "fixed" triggers curiosity and fosters a certain degree of unconformity. The need to find and learn new ways to depict whatever it is I wish to depict keeps me on my toes and doesn't allow me to settle with the tools or the style I am already familiar with - I am constantly "on the move" and my painting is meant to be a record of the path I move along. Perceived from a distance my approach tends to be cyclic, each cycle divided into series. Progression occurs from the outside in aEUR" from the surface to the core, from a certain degree of figuration to abstraction. Upon tackling each new theme I will be struck by the outward aspect of things and charged with a strong desire ...
Edem Elesh - I am interested in examining the miracle of everyday existence. I have lead a very unique life. Born in Los Angeles and educated from an early age at English boarding schools, I have been exposed to two different cultures. This gives my work an American energy with English sensibilities. I am intrigued by the interplay born of this duality: order and chaos, old and new, the conscious and unconscious, structure and freedom. Not to mention expectation and accident. I am currently working with a new form of mixed media which allows, to an even greater extent, the chances of an interplay between process and providence....
Nicholas Down - During the past few years I have had the privilege of visiting some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth including California's Sequoia National Forest, Yosemite and Joshua Tree National Parks, the red rocks of Sedona Arizona, the tough deserts of Canyonlands and Arches in Utah, Monument Valley in Navajo Nation, and of course the Grand Canyon. I was awestruck with the beauty and silences of these places and deeply inspired to create a number of new paintings and films which attempt to capture the essence of what I felt both as an artist and as a human being. I am increasingly aware of the threats to these landscapes, not just in the short term, but in the future, as the effects of climate change begin to alter rain patterns, glaciers and local ecologies in ways we are only just beginning to comprehend. My paintings are part of my extended homage to nature and are my abstract impressions of colour, mystery, and the spirit of place. My recent paintings have been hugely influenced by the winter here in New York State... frozen waterfalls, ice, snow drifts and landscapes blazing in winter hues. Technical Notes I continue to use the ...