Artists Describing Their Art:
Abby Jones - As an artist I am fascinated with the basic scientific principle that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Energy changes form from potential energy to kinetic energy and back. I explore the threshold of change; when potential energy becomes kinetic energy. That energy exists in the creative process of art making as well as life. That tension that makes us hold our breaths in anticipation and the release into eventual movement is the potential and kinetic energy we encounter in everyday life. My works strive to capture these forms of energy that exist in all of us. I use multi-media including mirror, wood, metal, stained glass, and paper on top of silky oils to achieve a sense of texture and contrast that creates tension. I also use shapes, lines, and color vigorously applied to achieve a sense of movement and fluidity. If the potential energy of my idea can move someone to feel an emotion then that is the kinetic energy of life derived from art. If a work can convey that sense of energy to the observer then the piece has done its job. ...
Thor-Leif Strindberg - During the last years, I have moved more and more towards the abstract art. When searching for new roads in a strange territory, you always make new discoveries, and I have found a mode of expression that enables me to tell the observer a lot more than by depicting nature and the human form. A distinct, detailed subject can easily become an obstacle to communication by prevailing in the eyes of the beholder. In my abstract paintings I can transform thoughts and impressions directly into colors and shades, textures and brush strokes, like grooves on an old record. Neither do the paintings carry any titles, since I believe that this might limit the experience, because the beholder would consciously or unconsciously look for definite, well known shapes in the picture. So when something is depicted in my paintings, it is always something very simple. Like bowls. And cups. And plates. Plain and ordinary things that we all recognize - things that can easily give up their natural roles as utility goods and turn into picture elements with a new purpose and function as carriers and conveyors of memories, dreams, feelings. People often ask me about the texts in my paintings. The ...
Susan Baquie - My art work varies in style as it is the result of experience and observation, as well as formal studies. From a type of surrealism to expressionism, sometimes more realistic and at others abstract in conception, many of my pictures reveal a psychological awareness, at times a depiction of trauma, and at others, the joys of colour, pattern, design and the flow of paint or ink across canvas or paper. Painting is like life itself, a constant mirroring of energy, a dynamic pouring of the soul onto two dimensions. It can be caring or selfish, it can be political, humanistic and even cruel. It is a way of life and as with poets and writers, often a happy work and often hard. It is wonderful to be able to show work on the Internet in this way. ...
Paul Carroll - In the act of observing , an object, figure, the idea is understood, by my perspective, a place in time, and interpretation, an interactive relationship between myself and that which is observed. I have always felt, upon the rendering through painting a kind of intimacy is developed, though the act of mind, hand, heart. As a painter I explore the risk of materials and ideas, as well as the autonomy the work itself demands, in order to explore the unfamiliar, in the hopes of creating something new. My inspiration comes from my environment and experience, I grew up and studied in the epicentre of chance, New York City, saturated with urban messaging, a landscape awash in pre-digital billboards built with layers upon layers of peeling information no longer conveying a single message but a visual distortion of fact, a decomposing testament to a rate of change not comprehensible by the average passerby. Though the means of the Abstract I attempt to make the unconscious, conscious by the use of allegory and symbolism to bridge the gap between the intellectual, thought filled real world, and the intuitive, spiritual world of the senses, in the hopes of imbuing the richness of a ...
David Mihaly - The first series here represents notable historical and pop culture figures, many with Ohio roots, presented in a contemporary style. Each portrait can be seen as a celebration of the individual depicted as well as a meditation on the difference between the bygone era of actual achievement in the arts versus todays culture of instant celebrity. Also included here is a series of textured jazz musician portraits. Each musician painting was made using a layered acrylic technique, evoking the smoky atmosphere of the clubs where the music was born....
Jack Hill - All of my sculptural work is bronze, cast in the "lost wax" technique. Besides sculpting the original work, I am hands on with all the phases of the casting process, including the molds, waxes, metal, and application of the patinas. My foundry experience allows me to ensure the quality and integrity of each idea, from inspiration to final presentation. The ideas are born from observation of the human existence, in all its splendor and absurdity. The addition of my own whimsy and uncommon approach brings about an expression of life in the permanence of bronze. People are only one part of the whole planet and my anthropomorphic works are an exploration of the blending of man into various parts of the environment. With attention to anatomic detail and a tongue-in-cheek twist I wish to stimulate the imagination and, maybe, tickle the funny bone. Questions? Call me at 305/240-3238 A new line of work has been added that I call "Body Armor". The human form is treated as if skin was an armor that could be put on or removed as needed. If it had been lost long ago and recently rediscovered, what would it look like. ...