Artists Describing Their Art:
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 ...
Daya Bonnie Astor - Summer 2009 Venezia- I am exploring movement. This is a play on words of "women's movement". I examine legs as a symbol of women moving forward to a goal. Legs can dance, walk, take steps (physical and mental); legs move in space. I am using mixed media (fabrics, canvas, paper, paints). The body of work is title "La Gambe che Supports" (the leg which supports). My series of fourteen works shows legs not interacting with any artifacts which would describe place, home or activity, besides movement. I sue color and texture to show variations and emotions within the legs. Another level of complexity for my artwork is site specific: Venice is fragile. Venice is a pedestrian city. Everyone walks, moves on fragile land. Workers commute to the lagoon, even the indigent and street vendors commute to select places to interact with the tourists. Since the ground is uneven here, one must pay attention to stones, concrete and the elements which make up our pedestrian surface. One must also pay attention to our support, our legs. Legs have expression, perhaps not as refined as hands and arms, and one can red expressions in legs. My subjects, women, walk through unifying ...
Carmine Santaniello - MOSAICS: Altered Monoprints: A multi-faceted series of new works create hybrids from an earlier process. Original monotypes are merged to form artworks that are handcrafted mosaic-like weaves of color, shape, texture and movement. Final images are transformed into art on paper with greater depths of aesthetic consistency. ...
Sarah Hauser - My working process involves moving ideas from one medium to another. A drawing may become a print which will become a sculpture -- then the sculpture can inspire drawings which are collaged with printed backgrounds, which gives me further ideas for creating environments composed of many sculpted objects. An important aspect of my work reflects a very direct connection I feel with animals. I am inspired by their emotional transparency and their fascination with any new object or situation: our cat who can be sleeping but becomes fully alert when anything new is brought into the apartment; the squirrel who comes to our fire escape every day to taunt our cat; the tiny sparrow who steals the large chunk of bread in mid-air as it's being thrown to a duck; the dogs that are so delighted to be out on a walk. Since the mid-nineties, I have pursued an ongoing series of drawings, paintings and prints of animals. Some of my newest works are strappo monotypes. Strappo is a process which was developed and taught to me by artist Harold Garde. The image is created by painting with acrylics on glass, then strengthening the surface using many layers ...
Amanda Coakley - As an atheist I have always looked at religion from the position of an observer rather than a practitioner. When I was younger, I grew up in a predominantly religious area and had felt out of place. My friends would try to get me to join bible school, received sideways looks for purchasing the newest fantasy book series, and needless to say I didnt know the words to prayers when I joined summer camp. My family was mostly atheist and growing up, I didnt know much else. The push towards religion was something I didnt understand as a child. However despite my experiences with religion, my hope is to not denigrate religion but draw light upon the chaos of consumption. Advertisements and the rush to Black Friday events at malls feel similar to me. I havent felt the need to run out and buy the latest I-phone or I-pod, or the latest in fashion trends. Nor have I wanted to find myself in large crowds of people waiting outside malls to get a plethora of stuff at fraction of the cost. Aside from the occasional indulgence into a few well loved book series, I didnt feel like I ...
Tamara Sorkin - I have always worked from organic subjects- plants, animals, or the human body, but usually I arrive at an abstract, "zoomorphic" description, that enables me a wider perspective. ...