Artists Describing Their Art:
Mario Ortiz Martinez - The main distinction of an artist is, or should be, insanity or, at least, the tendency to think and do absurd, showy, original and little comprehensible things for the common man. In particular, what attracts me the most is sharing my work, to the point of asking for very low prices. simple peanuts sometimes or flatly give it to those who appreciate it. Try me. This site requires a price standard. Very understandable and logical. But I would never refuse a reasonable offer. Just thinking about continuing, about having a penny to buy more colors and keep producing. Even when my works consist of a simple paper and in a small format, I always want to show my commitment to people, in order to brighten up a small corner of the house and invite reflection on the beautiful, the harmonious, the good vibes of the world. Some of these works have served as a study for large-format painting, but I have to honestly say that the study always looks better than the enlarged copy. In art, the first impulse, the first pictorial phrase, the first flash of inspiration, the first painted word that comes from the heart, is the ...
Mario Ortiz Martinez -
Michelle Iglesias - As an active member of the National Association of Women Artists, Oil Painters of America and the Berkshire Art Association, Michelle Iglesias is a self-taught artist who first took to painting for its therapeutic values after being diagnosed with cancer. Her passion and perseverance has led her to become a nationally recognized award-winning artist, art instructor, and the successful business owner of Berkshire Paint and Sip. She continues to encourage and foster creativity in her students and others inspired by her art. Ms. IglesiasaEURtm paintings are influenced by family connections, nature, and travel. Consisting of the tumultuous dimensions that nature offers, portraits with personalities, and engaging exotic landscape compositions, her canvases invite viewer involvement and have been described as insightful, symbolic, and clarifying. She conveys the vision of natureaEURtms grandeur to produce artwork that is expressive, of the highest quality, and will grab the vieweraEURtms interest and attention. A Berkshire-area native, Michelle Iglesias was born in 1972 in Blandford, MA and currently resides in Dalton, MA. She entered in to the art scene in 2002 when she opened Piece of My Art Gallery and Frame Shop in Westfield, MA. Two years after opening the gallery ...
Randy Sprout - I grew up in a small town in Northern Iowa, played football, coached the swimming team, and graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in printmaking studying under Mauricio Lasansky. I then went into the Army and ended up pulling 13 months in Korea on the DMZ. Coming out of Korea I entered UCLA and earned a MA and MFA in printmaking while studying under Jan Stussy and Stanton Mac-Donald Wright. The next year after the funds dried up on my Fulbright Award to Portugal, because of the Angola War, I was lucky to get hired by USC where I taught printmaking as a junior faculty member. I also replaced professors at UCLA when they went on sabaticals, and taught one year at Pierce College. In 1977 I tried Real Estate, you know just for the summer, but by fall I had purchased Century 21 Hollywood Inc. and had a new vocation going. Now 31 years into real estate, I'm coming full circle and starting to paint little quick studies 9X12. I'm using just 1/2 inch brushes and 5 colors. I intentionally limit my time to 2 hours after which I stop and throw ...
Eugen Varzic - Very early, as a small boy, I have defined myself as an artist. Of the wounds I have the design, the walls, benches, paper. 1999. degree in painting. Painting as breathing. To be the same, and in a permanent change. So I entered the world of painting. This idea leads me all the time, and I have to admit that sometimes it is not easy. I think that the work of painter most loneliest job. My wish is to stay on my way, and honestly continue to create art every day.To learn and see more. At least once by the end of life re-discover the child in myself. Inspiration is music. Sometimes in the silence I could not take the brush in hand ... Inspiration is the written word. Inspiration in history, religion, practically in everything. A main inspiration and the center of my art is man. Inspiration is the history of art. All. All. With the same passion I feel the bulls in Altamira and sculptures of Damien Hirst . I like to paint, I love to create some new worlds. Sometimes I think over my artwork. These are my painted logs that show me when I was happy, ...
Cathy Horner - Making art brings me great joy, and I believe each canvas is like a brief moment in an untold story. My collage art is inspired by vintage images found in old magazines, catalogs and books. I am fascinated by these forgotten treasures and the people who left them on shelves and in boxes in basements and attics for me to rediscover. By the time I find them the paper is yellowed and faded, mice have chewed the corners and insects and moths have made their holes. But these images are precious to me. I imagine the time when they were brand new and the dreams they inspired - of beautiful fashions or traveling to far away places. They are as fresh and brimming with innovation to my eyes as they were to the eyes that saw them the first time around. When I choose the images for a collage I am conscious that the final result will be whimsical, often surreal, while remaining visually rooted in times past. And it is my intention not only to stir imaginations, but also to encourage a sort of sentimental nostalgia. I use a combination of media in my work, including paint, found objects, computer ...
Dana Zivanovits - Dana Zivanovits was born in 1958 in Columbus, Ohio and received his art training from the Columbus College of Art and Design (1978 to 1982). After art school, he went abroad for a year and studied the art of the old masters in London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Venice. Returning to his studio in Columbus to develop these influences into a new body of work, he then traveled to Mexico and studied the sculpture and painting of that country for an extended period. The unique and vivid colors of Palenque and Vera Cruz intensified his palette. After a period in Ohio, he then moved to Venice Beach, California where the brilliant light of the region reinforced his desire to capture effects of sunlight and atmosphere. Returning to Ohio in 1995, he has continued to paint themes deriving inspiration form sources such as world mythology, classic and B-grade cinema, literature and dreams. However his primary inspiration is direct observation from nature, versus an approach based in art theories or cultural critique. Dana has been widely represented by galleries and exhibition projects including Julie Rico and Mega Boom in Los Angeles, the Venice Art Detour, Around the Coyote Festival in Chicago ...
Elra Norris-Gattermeir - I have been taking photos since I was a kid and have lived in and photographed the wonders of 17 of the states of the US. For more than 30 years I have pursued a love of nature, trees, and flowers, capturing that love on film. In 1999 I opened up shop as ELphotos to sell decor and stock photography (for promotional and editorial use). I also design note cards from my photos as well as make key chains, magnets, gift inserts and bookmarks of my favorite images. Until December 2003, I lived with my sister (Sally), two parrots (Falco and Faun), an iguana (Clarence) and two 3-foot ragdolls (Frank and Rich) whose tiny possessions littered the entire house. That conglomeration made a bevy of photographic subjects if I didn't have a mind to step into the outdoors. I am now married and reside in Illinois, just south of Chicago. I use my Nikon and a Canon digital camera to relax and wind down from the day's strife and, hopefully I can snap some pictures others will enjoy. I am a member in good standing of Tri-State Arts Association, Professional Photographers of West Virginia, the International ...
Agnieszka Parys Kozak - ,,I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." Georgia O'Keeffe It was always difficult for me to write about art. I found usual questions truly challenging. Why art? they ask. Well, it was always inside of me, pulsing and just waiting to emerge, gain a physical form. When it finally does, it is flowing freely and spontaneously, like an unstoppable brisk stream. To be honest, talking about my main medium- clay, makes me the most comfortable. It is profoundly close to me. Thanks to its softness, when i hold it in my hands i interact with it and it interacts with me, it can be subdued to my vision. I see subtle feminine nature in it and at the same time it is rigid and raw. I can never fully tame her, because after shaping it, fire takes control over her. The results are always unpredictable. Clay also gives me the freedom to express myself deeper, because I can merge sculpture with painting and drawing. Working with colors, shapes and patterns keeps me interested all the time. However, there are some limitations, which...
Paul Wesson - I specialise in creating high quality durable steel sculpture for the outdoor environment.What is in my head when I make the work is deeply personal. What matters to me is that the work engages the imagination and connects with a deep-rooted, instinctive appreciation of simple forms. My challenge always, is to fulfill the remit of not only creating a subject as a piece of sculpture that will make you stop, stand and stare, but also challenge....
Kay Liebenberg - Art is not merely a process of creation, it is a way to express yourself within society. Art has many forms as well as many interpretations, but they all have one thing in common...each artwork has its own voice and reason for it being created. I am an artist who specialises in creating Mixed Media artworks that have a unique interpretation as well as a 3-dimensional factor that allows it to be interactive. Each artwork that I have created has a different medium that I used for texture as well as for the interactive factor, which is 3-dimensional. I have a passion for art and I would like to share it with the world. ...
Claire Denarie - 'Nothing pleases me more than the grotesque of human nature! I don't do pretty and I become colour-blind when it comes to pastels and sober colours'. Her combinations of colour and composition are imaginative and at times, unexpected. In her art she wouldn't dream of plagiarising nature because, and I quote the artist, 'a) I'm not that good and b) I'd rather buy a postcard.' Nature, for Soffietti, is mysterious and perfect and ought to remain untouched in its finished state. She allows herself to marvel, not to comprehend it when it comes to the eye. The artist admits: 'I paint to translate the incongruities of my mind, and stop when it fails to entertain me'...