Artists Describing Their Art:
Michael Kehrlein - painter,sculptor,textile artist ,My creations fit perfectly(sic) in a wabi sabi urban zen environment. Because I stubbornly believe all the care my hands give to each and every process of my textile creations or stone sculpture creates something more than just a "look." It may be subtle, but you know when you wear or touch. You know when that piece ages with you. You feel the thought of that person, who made it for you, the invisible. I work with "slow" materials, not flashy, not necessary pretty, not cheap, not easy, but those that will give a soul to the piece. I would like to offer you the best and unique. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. ...
Abiodun Ijiyera - Artist Statement In style, content and formal properties, my artwork reflects the motifs found in the traditional arts and crafts of the Yoruba people. The themes revolve around occupations, religious images, music, fashion designs, myths and folklores. Initially, when I was in college, the images recalled subconsciously. Recently, though, I make deliberate efforts to incorporate the familiar symbols and designs found in various traditional wears, musical instruments, carvings, and batik dyeing, in my artworks. The talking drums or the baritone igbin drums with their intricate carvings are much more than the sounds they produce. The formal elements expressed by the striped cords, and the wooden pegs that stretch the hide taut, beautifully illustrate graceful lines and textured organic shapes that end up as focal points in my works. Religious subjects from biblical stories are also a source of inspiration for my creative work. Though many of the stories can be narrative, I portray the images in stylized forms. The idea of stylizing started out as a way of getting kids to look for clues in solving puzzles about biblical personalities and events in our Children Ministry at church. It has since become another style of self-expression for me. ...
Ana Castro Feijoo - My work is essentially a visual development of the relationnships between shapes, colors, line and emotion, with in speecific field, sometimes the symbols reveal themselves spontaneously, my chalenge in their balancein space. It is halfway between abstraction and figuration. I donA't analyze, I donA't coneptualize, rather I build and destroy until I unravel a portrait of the moment. It is my language to express mmy interior, difficult with words. In the paintings I paint layer upon layer, letting it happen and flo, in the engraving especially llately in the monocopie, once the inks have been disseminated I am intereested in exploring the accident that occurs when literally exploding them under the pressure of the press, moment by moment, until the appropriate ones are captured on papeer or canvas. I am a multifaceted artist. I am attracted to the challenges of differrent disciplines. It is an evolution in time, while the work is being created, to the point that I see an abstract representation of something that I had not seen before and I allow the work to have its own presence....
Robert Pulley - A friend told me recently that it was helpul for her to know how an art work is created and how the artist thinks. That led me to consider what I have to say about my art work. When one looks at my sculpture I hope one sees strength, mystery, sensuousness, spiritual energy and more. How these constructions in modeled clay can stir such responsed in myself and others is a mystery to me, but I can say something about my methods and way of thinking. I have always been intuitive, reactive and spontaneous. I love improvisation, expression and the power of chance and serendipity. This may not seem obvious in large pieces that must be carefully crafted over weeks or months. Here is how it works. When I began the first pieces in this body of work many years ago they were purely improvisational. I would begin each piece with a flat slab of clay that I cut into a shape that would be the bottom of the sculpture. I usually had a vague idea of the proportions I wanted. This general notion set the theme within which I worked. In the manner of free jazz I would consider ...
Caren Keyser - My expressionist paintings are done using an intuitive process. I begin with the paint and then allow the paint and my subconscious to lead me to the subject matter. Exciting interactions between colors evolve from brushwork, pouring, glazing, spraying and other techniques. I strive to show the essence of the subject rather than paint an overly realistic image. I never know what I will find next in my work. I hope it will be dramatic and emotional. Note that the paintings are not framed. ------------------------------------- I began painting professionally in 1977 after studying art at Florida Atlantic University. There I explored the many styles and techniques available to the acrylic painter. My first photo-realism style piece was created while attending FAU. I knew from that moment that realistic nature scenes would be my style of choice. This remained my theme and style until after 2005. As time has passed my work has changed and become more creative in its processes. Color is still the dominant feature in my work. As my focus has shifted toward expressionism I stored my realism pieces. The originals of many of them are still available for purchase and are included in my inventory here at ...
Sharron Parker - As a child I chased butterflies, scrambled over rocks, and read romantic tales of faraway places. Years later, I've studied butterflies and rocks, and traveled to many of the places--the Amazon rainforest, craggy cliffs with castle ruins, remote island beaches--and I've never lost the wonder of them. Yet exotic beauty can be found everywhere. I use the ancient technique of feltmaking not to capture what I've seen directly, but to create something new. The simplicity of the technique--combing, layering, and working dyed unspun wool in hot water until the fibers lock--allows me to work spontaneously, and often experimentally. The shape of a piece might come from a bird's wing, the color from crystals under a microscope, a line from the sinuous edge of a pond meeting the shore, and the texture from the bark of a birch tree. I wish to celebrate nature, not to mirror it. ...
Andrea Benetti - Manifesto of Neo Cave Art was presented by Andrea Benetti at the 53rd Venice Biennale in the Natura e sogni aEURoeNature and DreamsaEUR pavilion in the Ca Foscari University, San Giobbe, Cannaregio, Venice, Italy MANIFESTO DELLARTE NEORUPESTRE Manifesto of Neo Cave Painting by Andrea Benetti Since the dawn of humanity, well before the invention of written language, Man felt the need to communicate, to leave some trace of his passage through this world. This he accomplished through painting. Early Man had to deal with the sun, the earth, the waters and the sky every dayaEUR| had to find a way to find his place in the balance of Nature. And even when Nature was unthreatening, he was in awe of Her, treating Her with the respect due a Deity, in full awareness of his own human limitations. Contemporary Man has denied those limits and trampled that respect, placing himself at the center of the universe and giving his own selfish needs absolute priority. In doing so, he has stupidly destroyed the enchantment and desecrated the sanctity of Life and Nature. So letaEURtms take a step backward. LetaEURtms start over, with the proper respect for Nature and for human ...