Artists Describing Their Art:

Emilio Merlina - I was born in 1950 in the North East of Italy from a polish mother and a sicilian father. I toured the world until I was 35, then I returned to Italy and picked up again my old passion painting and sculpture. As for myself, I can only say thoughts and paintings, paintings and thoughts. Everything maybe useless, however everything is life. i?1/2The human being leaves its signs, graffiti, indian dreams and imagination. Now I only have left a few more possibilities to express the colors which are not. Only the sign, scratched, angry or brushed is the witness. The sign has passed from there and there it has lived.i?1/2 Emilio Merlina Some hear if a door opens Others hear a latch which opens or closes Others more they hear the Angel when he turns over a page of the Great Book From the novel Missa Sine Nomine By Ernst Wiechert I have words which relegate my hunger And the hunger which owns my body but which do not confine them I have words which are both my confined hunger and body By the Italian poetess Paola Lovisolo ...

Randy Cousins - I love Nature: all plants, animals and the minerals that make the magnificent topography. I feel ashamed at being one of the species that has done such damage to the planet. We have made the air more difficult to breathe and the fresh water less potable, destroyed land habitat and driven to extinction even once common species. While we are on the verge of fishing to extinction the entire ocean system, we dump tons of plastic--that have become submerged islands the size of continents--into it. In addition, the degree that animal agriculture impacts our environment as well as perpetuates suffering on our fellow beings, while increasing healthcare costs due to obesity and related disease is overwhelming. My affinity for Buddhist philosophy has made it impossible for me to look away. I try to live my life making as little impact as I am able. And though I am compromised physically by exposure to toxins and chemicals, I do what I can to help fellow beings--regardless of species (firstly, by not eating them). My art is about the ruined and what it becomes, the impermanent visible and invisible, the balance that is necessary to maintain some kind of ...

Mircea Popescu - Mircea Popescu Statement In my work time is an active element. I paint like I build a sculpture using simple forms, lines and textures representing days, hours and archetypes such as: books, letters, numbers or primordial elements. The surface; canvas, wood, or paper is painted from dark to light, a technique used in the byzantine art. Using classical principles, the golden section, the structures of my compositions are based on rigorous diagrams of simple geometric figures. Considering that contemporary art is characterized by invention and experimentation, texture becomes an essential element of my paintings that comes naturally from the way the paste is applied, transparent layers of paint creating new surfaces. Light is the most surprising element in my paintings which is a result of my technique; the method I mix the primary colors, pigments and other substances What is interesting, not all of them contain the same light, but all of them radiate energy. ...

Randall Fox - I am interested in making visual statements about the interaction of time, history, cultures, memory, intellect, intuitions, experiences and the spiritual, in and on the human creative process. "inherent in all manifest in the few" Born: 1960 Education: Bachelor of Science Degree, Industrial Technology (Technical Management) California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo A.S. Degree Canada Collage, Redwood City, California (General Engineering-Pre Med.) Other: Art History/Art Studies - Stanford University, Palo Alto California Collected in: United States, Holland, Norway, Puerto Rico, Germany, Mexico, England, Brazil ...

Don Dougan - My work comprises both abstracted and figurative imagery executed in a variety of mixed materials, with stone being the predominate medium. Other materials used (usually in conjunction with stone) include foundry cast metals, carved and joined wood, cast and fabricated plastics, cold-worked and kiln-formed glass, cast and carved hydraulic cements, cast/formed paper, welded/fabricated metals, gilding, and found/assembled objects. The more abstracted imagery is worked in pedestal pieces, large freestanding sculptures, and in wall-mounted relief sculptures. The figurative lip series is usually presented in wall-mounted reliefs, deep shadowbox framing, and occasionally as either a pedestal piece or a large freestanding work. The most recently begun series of work comprises pedestal-sized pieces using the imagery of the ship or the boat hull. Each series or each type of work allows me to express aspects of the human condition - the more abstracted works tend to reveal a more universal emotional/rational characterization of subject matter, the lip series tends to allow sensuality, humor, and more visceral expressions, while the ship series delves into personal/cultural memories and emotional journeys. For more images and information on myself, my work, and my working methods please visit my ...

Katrina Brooks - My work focuses on the human relationship with nature. It explores our dependency on our environment and natural resources, while also illuminating our desire to remain separate and disconnected from nature in our everyday lives. Joseph Campbell's theory of separate development explains the reason why different cultures in different parts of the world, which have had no contact with each other, have such similar myths is because certain aspects of the human psyche are common to all of mankind--what is inside us and the need to understand it. These myths share one thing in common, that through death and the sacrifice of the body, the spirit is achieved and life is achieved. All welcome death because without it there cannot be life. It is what unites all living things because all return to the earth in the end. Undoubtedly it was their lack of technology that allowed our ancestors to have this deeper connection than that which we have today. Man created mythology out of a response to the environment in which he lived. Everything natural became sacred to him because he was a part of it and survival forced him to interact with it. This body of...