#art, If You See the Soft Glow of the Interior Light, Paint It

An expressionist painting is a painting that surges, (yes, like acid reflux) from within the artist, the image, or expression cannot be stopped. It doesn’t mean that it will be painted ipso facto but it will eventually make its way on to a canvas or something. Expressionism began as a result of the difficulties of war in Europe, specifically in Germany, later in Austria, but the art form spread quickly all over Europe and then to the American continent.

To paint one has to have a few things clear in one’s head. One has to know where the composition will be placed. Will it be on paper, canvas, wood, metal, cardboard, old newspapers? One has to know the medium. Will it be acrylic paint, oil, pencil and ink, markers, or what? Then comes step two, the one where things get a bit more defined. What size will my painting be? What exactly am I going to paint? Will it be abstract, or figurative? Will it be painted horizontally or vertically? What is the idea for the composition? Landscape? Cityscape? Fantasy? Realism? Expressionist? Cubist? Surrealist? Fauve? Ad nauseam…

For me there is a little voice inside that begins to tell me what I should be thinking about… I do not draw what I see, I see what I draw, but within… That is why my painting is not pure expressionism, it is Surreal-Expressionist Jazz Art. Why jazz art? Because it is filled with improvisation, self-expression and it swings…

The two paintings in the image are from the Miami years (1996-2018) and they have been in the collection of a fabulous collector from India who also owned a beautiful home close to Miami. They are from the first phase of Surreal-Expressionism.

CHEERS