Artists Describing Their Art:

Shoshana Kertesz - In 2003 Shoshana left Hungary and moved to Jerusalem, Israel. She continued to exhibit her artwork throughout Hungary and Israel. The works from this period show an orientation toward biblical and Jewish subjects. In her biblical paintings she uses strong expressions of solemnity and seriousness on the faces to convey the drama of the moment. "I am not concentrating solely on the story itself but mostly on the spiritual response that the story evokes in me". Her more recent works include realistic portraits of great artists, writers, poets, musicians. "I choose my subjects not just based on whom I admire but whom I can identify myself with on certain levels. For me it is also a psychological study, to make a thorough research on my subject`s personality, to dig as deep as possible into their art and to live and breathe who they are in order to bring out the most realistic expression and reflection of their inner and outer being as well as -consciously or not- my own. We achieve the best results in art when we totally identify ourselves with what we want to express. For example if I paint an earring I shouldn`t just look ...

Ken Hillberry - In art and in life, dynamics of balance, integrity and tolerant interaction of all elements or participants ought to be see, experienced and maintained. At the same time, the challenge of affecting this balance is creatively encountering all changes and adapt accordingly. For some, the destination or pre-determined outcomes are sought more often than not. Then there are some who savor the journey, thus witnessing and enjoying developments along the way. I fall into the latter category. It's like watching the film develop in a darkroom. the image takes form a little at a time right before my eyes. The creative process, for me, is void of pressure and timeless. The ability and practice and discipline are central in my approach. My creative intent is to engage a viewer in thought and emotion, as well as, with their eyes. Using imagination, retrospect or model, my range of composition can be conceptual, perhaps impressionistic or abstract in application, but always developed to evoke an awareness and appreciation for the relative conditions in life experience and art form as I incisively or playfully interpret my experiences along the way. ...

Samitha Hess - I unfortunately lost all of my artwork, handmade jewelry, & purses along with my home, business & Art Gallery in Hurricane Ike. So now I have all of my artwork for sale as t-shirt & gift designs at

Austen Pinkerton - Artists Statement Austen Pinkerton If I turn my mind to it very quickly I can come up with several ideas for works aEUR|paintings, drawings, or sculptures. Sometimes ideas come to me when I least expect it, or when my mind is on other things. Ideas can be related to my current experiences, or to my feelings about things that are happening to me in my life at that particular time. Alternatively they can be related to a current interest, or something that occupies my attention at that moment, and my ideas and feelings about which Id like to share with others. A lot of my work is autobiographicalaEUR|either directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously. It is frequently very personal, and expresses events or circumstances or experiences in my life. I usually work in either Acrylic on Canvas, Crayon or Pastel, or both together, with Gouache, on card, Drawing in pencil, or Ink, or both, or with creating SculptureaEUR|for which I use fired artists clay. Sculpture follows a completely different set of rules and values from two-dimensional art, obviously, I think of it as Drawing in three dimensions and I take this into account when creating mine. In...

Francois Gouws - I am a South African Pop Artist. The emblems and images of popular culture fascinate me. I enjoy the fact that these images encompass a wide array of subjects from advertisements, industry, politics and even sport. Although these images often seem banal and superficially beautiful on closer inspection one will always find that they address much larger issues of mankind and what it entails to be a human being in this New World. The celebrity portrait alludes to our culture's obsession with glamour, celebrity and physical beauty. Beauty and celebrity have become a universal world currency - stronger than the pound or the dollar. Because of over exposure to the aesthetised images of cinema and television, the younger generation always respond to a successful Pop image, since they understand the underlying aesthetic (even if only on a subliminal level). In my art making process I felt compelled to use the techniques and philosophy of Warhol as of a point of departure. Even after all this time Warhol's work seems current and it is still impossible to ignore. Warhol acutely understood the power of beauty and celebrity and add to that his insights into the workings of modern day industry ...

Melcha C - Artistic approach My paintings reflect pieces of collective intimate memory inspired by pop art retro music. Ii?1/2m also painting live nude contemporary models where the colors and movements live along. Collection My paintings are spread through many private collections in USA New-York, California, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia, in India, in Belgique, in Montreal in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area ...

Bernhard Luettmer - The project is to create the image with a short composition as I wanted at times I took in here. Timing and movements of the camera or the machinery are important resources. Photography is listen to the world as we hear a beloved piece of music. For example: I see a tree just in vegetation, the wind gentle caresses the new leaves, the light shines and you hear all this on the skin. Now take a picture with the knowledge that this concentration and on the negative is something of the feeling....

Bernhard Luettmer - Alexander J. Kochan - Self-Taught Poet and Painter Raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Kochan eyed the Empire State spire out his attic window at age seven and knew instinctively he would one day live there. At 17 he moved to Greenwich Village presumably to attend N.Y.U. but the rasp of city life had him in its grips. Instead of attending classes he walked nearly every square foot of Manhattan. The impossible concoction of people, energy, and the towering buildings infused him with the desire to re-create through poetry and painting, the face of life. This desire would lay dormant for 33 years before Kochan allowed himself the time to write, draw, paint and explore that world cascading through his mind. ...

Steve Smilen - Being an addict to something isn't always bad. I am an addict.I don't shoot up, drink, do coke or even pepsi but I am an addict. Do you know what it's like.. to be addicted to something? That came about to grab you very slowly,over time. And viola.. you're hooked.Well, it happened that way to me. Over a period of say 30 years, I tried painting,pen and pencil, paper, graphic design. All well and good. I tried working with wood frames and triptychs. That felt alright too. But one day, after many years of using other mediums to create my art, I evolved. Like a pupa changing into a butterfly, my art went from working with a pallette of colored paper, canvas of panels of wood to beginning to create with a whole new medium- MOSAICS. No longer is my work in the form of colored PAPER. Instead, I now combine thousands of tiny pieces of glass and stone to create. All my works are as vivid in their colors and as deep as anything done with paint. I strive to capture the intensity, complexity and inner psyche of the piece. I ...

Jonathan Stein - In the ebb and flow of our existence, we are confronted by great hindrances, as well as overwhelming moments of joy, which shape and define our character. It is my assertion that within each individual there lives and breathes a personal narrative that holds merit and deserves to be fully recognized. As a visual storyteller and conceptual artist, my life's passion revolves around uncovering not only my own inherent story but the elaborate tales of those around me. Classically trained in drawing, painting and sculpture, I have always sought to deviate and meander away from traditional means of representing the world around me. There are times I am visited by a superhighway of ideas that often race by too quickly to be seized, or I am confronted head-on by social injustices that bring upon an immediate need to respond creatively. These forces, this creative push, fuel the production of photographs, short film narratives and mixed media installations ranging in tone and varying in layered meaning. I stay open to influences and find my work reflects a multitude of subject matter, primarily gender, identity, social discourse, human rights, and the ever-present need for tolerance and social change. My ...

Evelyn Astegno - I would like to introduce my artistic thought through the words of an Italian Art Critic "Astegno, a Magic Realism that Americans really like" by Giovanna Grossato article on Il Giornale di Vicenza , Sunday 4 July 2004 It does exist deep inside many of us another Ego, of eternal youth and purity; it represents all we could and always wished to be. This Ego we miss and contemplate with tormenting desire is the poetic core of a young artist from Vicenza who is now becoming successfull in the United States. It is in fact in a prestigious gallery of St Louis, the "Third Floor gallery on Washington", that are currently being exposed some works of Evelyn Astegno, together with other emerging artists such as Craig Downs, Julie Malone and Christopher Gustave. The group of paintings Evelyn Astegno chose to display in the collective Art Show are extremely representative of her style, soon well defined from the beginning and matured since she started her career. They belong to a disquieting Surrealism where characters, probable but not assimilable to any type completely rooted in reality, represent probably different aspects of the same subject: the artist herself. Her painting is a thought translated ...