Artists Describing Their Art:

Raphael Perez Israeli Painter - Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries. In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films. Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration ...

Vladimir Volosov - I was born in 1937 in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia). My way to art was a lengthy one. Before becoming an artist, I studied for thirty years at the forefront of modern physics as a PhD scientist and professor, author more than 150 scientific articles in contemporary laser physics. Thirty years of strenuous scientific work on the front edge of modern physics gives me a deep feeling for the anxiety and unprotectedness of the world's beauty. The formula, "beauty saves the world" fits my own attitude. My creed is also embodied in the statement: "to have time to realize everything given to you by Nature." At the threshold of my fifties, I decided to live one more life, a new, alluring life of the free artist. I walked away from my established scientific career and completely devoted myself to painting. In 1991 I founded and headed the association "Light, Color and Art" to connect with scientists engaged in the arts. The main directions of my paintings are lyrical realism and abstract compositions. My paintings are about light, color, atmosphere and space. For me, the most important elements are light and color and their juxtaposition/nexus/meeting of...

Maja Djokic Mihajlovic - Maja AokiA++ MihajloviA++ is an Academic , award- winning painter , full-time professional artist . Her work is widely collected both nationally and internationally and may be found in numerous private and corporate collections all around the world. Maja AokiA++ MihajloviA++,born in Belgrade in December 1971.,graduated from The Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade,Painting Department,in the class of professor Milica StevanoviA++.She completed her postgraduate studies,with the same professor as her mentor,in 1999. She has been a member of the ULUS since 1997., and obtained the status of the independent artist in 2000. -Seventeen individual exhibitions. -Participated in more than hundred group exhibitions in our country and around,as well as activities of a number of painting colonies. -Five prizes for painting. ...

Svetoslav Stoyanov - Imagination and thought are endless and this is what I try to show in my works. The combination of symbols and details provokes people to think, and the elements painted realistically, allow greater understanding of the main idea. My preferred media is oil on canvas and my style surrealism....

Daniel Clarke - Daniel E. Clarke is a Los Angeles Native who has been painting his entire career in the Los Angeles area. His art education has included studying under the internationally famous Timothy Clark, UCLA Extension University, and Glendale College. He has explored both pictorial and abstract designs but is dedicated to a free flow of color and dynamic composition. Mr. Clarke has concentrated on the acrylic and watercolor medium, and paints on location in his Los Angeles based studio. He also maintains his paintings and sales in his own company called Berrypunch Gallery. ...

Vyara Tichkova - I get inspiration from everything around me. Its can be a song, an emotion, a book, a song, a story from my friend, its unpredictable what can touch my soul... Im amazed how much abstraction have in the nature in the simple thinks and in elementary pictures of everyday life. My passion is to traveling around the world, every new journey gives me a fresh opportunity to develop and change my vision and ideas. I see new cultures, learn curious stories and stand in front of amazing natural views, I meet the achievements of man in everyone aspect. That take my breath and poses new challenges to me as an artist. I would not want to explain my artworks because I believe that the works of art are the connection between the artist and the viewer. This is another level of communication, another kind of language that does not need words ......

Michael Garr - I have been drawing and painting since Junior High. I enjoy quick art, impressionistic yet realistic, and minimal. There are interesting subjects all around us. My inspirations are architecture, people, light and shadow, the sea and boats, imagination... and the old masters. Get out and enjoy your surroundings. All my works are available as signed and numbered prints. I also do commission works, some examples of which are in the portfolio. I donate all proceeds to charity (I have a day job). My opportunities for artistic expression have included drawing on napkins during airplane rides and waiting during my sons' music lessons. In 2012 I took up oil painting for the first time, and my mentor is Lorena Pugh of North Kingstown. I've done both Plein air and studio work in her presence, and am benefitting from the association. We have an informal group who meet and paint in Lorena's studio on Monday nights throughout the indoor season. I will continue to pursue art on a daily basis, and post the finished works here and on facebook for any and all to peruse. In 2003, I legally changed my name back to my original name, Michael Garr, so ...

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...

Jim Lively - Whether portrayed in the abstract, realism, or somewhere in between, I am most influenced by both the beautiful and unattractive components of contemporary urban culture. Many times, one painting will reflect both components. My art tends to focus upon interesting juxtapositions of close-up images of human faces. Often, the larger images border upon realism and are caught expressing a panoply of emotions usually directed at the other images that share the canvas. Several of my recent works such as the tongue in cheek entitled "Lenin and Things" contain unlikely combinations of images such as a statue of Lenin which is dwarfed by a billboard size fashion model displaying a vacuous stare. A number of works contain both large images and interrelated small images. For example in the painting "Staring at Natalie", all the smaller images are a depiction of a collective group of voyeurs staring at a larger image of a posed fashion model. I want those viewing the painting to be the ultimate voyeur. The viewer is not only drawn initially to the larger image in its own right but also cannot help but then notice the relationship of the smaller images to the large image. Works displayed ...