Artist Statement: “Music of War”

I don’t paint many still life paintings, but when I do I try to inspirit them with some symbolism like the masters of the past did before. “Music of War” is the painting about life and death. On the left side of the composition you can notice a two-string musical instrument called “Topshur”. It takes its origin from the Western Mongolian tribes. Mongolian people usually sang songs about wars and heroes of the past accompanied by this instrument. They also played topshur before a battle to inspire people. Somehow this instrument symbolizes a war. But the same time music can symbolize life, movement, inspiration. On the right side of the composition you can see the human skull in old style Mongolian hat. Apparently, it symbolizes death, “Memento mori”.

I decided to paint two light sources. Left one is red. A color of life, fierce and energy. Topshur is being lit by this light. Right light source is green. In color psychology green color stimulates harmony in the brain. It is a calm color. All of us will find desired peace after death.

Also, painting this still life I was inspired by 19^th century Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin. One of his most famous paintings is “The Apotheosis of War”. He has painted a big pile of sculls in a middle of Central Asian steppe. Inspiration came to me from the inscription on the frame of this large painting: “Dedicated to all conquerors of the past, present and future”.

Also, when I paint still life paintings, I usually use an old multilayer technique (like Flemish, a little bit modified). It takes a lot of time to finish a piece with such technique. Paintings made this way have volumetric light, the illusion of volume and presence is incredible. The light pierces the canvas and reflects from the wall where the painting is hanging and lightens the canvas from inside. As the shadow areas have the most transparent layer it glows the most. You can notice this effect on many masterpieces of 17^th-18^th century.

Biography

Dmitry Fesechko (b. 1988) is an artist from Moscow, Russia. He started his artist career as an abstract painter, then for some years was absorbed in surrealism and symbolism, taking part in exhibitions in Russia and the EU. He also worked as a digital illustrator for some time but abandoned it focusing entirely on traditional oil painting. He has studied classical multilayer technique that takes its origin from old masters of the past. Nowadays Dmitry works in genres closer to life like still life, landscapes and paints a series of paintings inspired by several trips to India.

Exhibitions:

2008 Solo exhibition, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow

2008 Group exhibition Death and afterlife in art, VDNKh, Moscow

2008 Two paintings were bought for Museum of world Funeral Culture, Novosibirsk

2010-2011 Group exhibitions, Grekov’s Studio, Moscow

2011-2013 Participant of Andrey Nekrasov surrealism art projects “Geysers of subconscious” and “Ying Yang”.

2011 Group exhibition, The State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, Moscow

2012 Group exhibition, Gallery Plum Palm, Moscow

2013 Group exhibition, Gallery Plum Palm, Moscow

2013 Group exhibition, Central House of Artist, Moscow

2013 – Agnirealism exhibition, DEVE gallery, Moscow

2014 – Agnirealism exhibition, Galerie Natalie Boldyreff, Paris

2018 – Beggars and Saints solo exhibition, Ashwinam center, Moscow

Publications:

2008 Interview, The Battered Suitcase, Vagabondage Press, LLC

2012 Interview, Futur Maestri

2015 Interview, Artist Removed

2015 Interview, Figurementors

2015 International Contemporary Artists, Vol X, ICA Publishing

2016 The First Berliner Art Book 2016

2017 Interview, Figure Painter Magazine Vol. 46

2017 article, Russiaknowledge

2017-2018 Author of the section “Lessons from the past”, Figurementors

Art Awards:

2017 Bullfight painting, Honourable Mention, Creative Inspiration 2017” event, Bauhaus Prairie Art Gallery

2017 One has reached Samadhi painting, Special Merit Award, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery

2017 Sadhu and the old man painting, 4th place in Orientalism, American Art Awards 2017

2018 Top 100 Award, Circle Art Foundation

Miniature Art Events:

2012 Golden medal, Silver medal, Winter Angel Miniature Show, Moscow

2013 Overall prize winner, Spring Angel Miniature Show, Moscow

2015 Silver medal, Monte San Savino Show, Italy

2016 Bronze medal, Monte San Savino Show, Italy

2016 Contest Judge, Ruby sphere Miniature Show, Moscow

2017 Contest Judge, Monte San Savino Show, Italy

2018 Contest Judge, Moson Model Show, Hungary

2018 Grand prize, Paint-o-Palooza, Germany

Member of Creative Union of Professional Artists since 2013

Artist Statement

“The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery.” ~ Sir Francis Bacon

For me a straight photograph is rarely enough to capture the essence of what I am seeking to express. Don’t get me wrong. I have a deep appreciation for the pure photograph as art. I think that Dorothea Lange or Ansel Adams or Edward Weston are extraordinary artists and a “simple” color or black and white image can have the impact or beauty of any great work of art. However, for me I generally want to make the art of creating an image a process that goes beyond the simple art form to what I have termed a “dreamlike quintessentialism” designed to spark an emotional response from the viewer. Even now as the words escape my figurative lips they seem contrived, arrogant – an affectation. Yet, for the life of me I can’t find a more apt way to explain either the process or the outcome when I undertake to create an image. Perhaps it is a measure of my own failing as an artist. The fact that I can only rarely capture an image that I find satisfying without my intervention.

 Often when looking to create an impact I find myself torn between trying to disguise my treachery and flaunting it. Sometimes I choose to disguise it and sometimes I chose to flaunt it – ignoring perfect straight lines and making them rough and imperfect. It usually works for me, it may not work for you or you may find it as compelling as do I.

 That’s what makes the world an interesting place and that’s what achieves dreamlike quintessentialism in my own universe.

 “Spring’s Dance of Form” is an image that rises to this level. Perhaps that is why it was chosen by the Bauhaus Prairie Gallery for the honor of 1st place in their 2018 Still Life Competition. On the day I photographed the Skunk Cabbage that became Spring’s Dance it was the first real warm day in the shadow of Rattlesnake Ridge in New Hampshire where I live. Anyone who goes out on that first warm day will find almost nothing growing . . . nothing, that is, except Skunk Cabbage which has thrust it’s green leaves into the cool spring air. While its color does indeed provide a stark contrast to the browns, beiges and muted greens of the landscape the color is less important than the form. Not to say that I didn’t try by creating an image titled “Spring’s First Blossom” which creates an image where color is equally important to form. Yet the simplicity of Spring’s Dance makes it both more simple, pure and stunning at the same time makes it more compelling still.

Biography – Publications

Books & Columns:
New: *Sacred Trust, a Novel*
“The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution”

https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/

Asquamchumaukee – Place of Mountain Waters

A Spot on the Porch – Rumney at 250

Washday – An Homage to Humanity’s Shared Tradition

The View from Rattlesnake Ridge
A bi-weekly column by Wayne King on New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism website

Art:

*The Best of Wayne King* – The Artist’s Best Selling and favorite images.

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Artist Statement

This painting is one in a series of “animated” still life paintings utilizing traditionally composed arrangements as scenes in which origami birds can playfully interact. This arrangement substitutes my more usual bold patterned rugs with a softer draping scarf along with iris from my garden and a blue and white bowl belonging to a dear friend. I am currently exploring how light, shadows and reflections can be used to add liveliness to an arrangement as well, leading and connecting viewers to the small scenes.

Biography

Oklahoma native, Tamara Sigler, has always loved the outdoors, and exploring areas of natural beauty, especially in Oklahoma, the desert Southwest and the Rocky Mountain States. Recent years have added the peaceful, green spaces surrounding her current northeast Ohio home to that list. As a young girl, she would sometimes find small “treasures” while exploring, which would be a launching pad for imagined scenarios about little worlds.

Tamara studied art at Kansas City Art Institute and earned her BFA from Oklahoma City University. She entered a career as a graphic designer, just as the field was transitioning from traditional to digital. “It was an exciting decade of creative growth and opportunity. The career path branched and led into some crazy and energetic years of balancing artistic endeavors with the requirements of being a stay-at-home parent. It now leads back to the world of a full time artist.”

She is at work on a “Life of Birds” series depicting still life subjects that are enlivened with directional elements and paper birds each with its own character. Her art reflects the strong colors and patterns inspired by her home and her travels, and showcase a contemporary approach to composition along with a love and respect for traditional painting techniques.

Tamara is the recipient of the Native Star Award and has shown by invitation in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Small Works, Great Wonders Show. She has had work displayed in the Butler Museum of American Art and participated in numerous galleries and juried shows, including the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society’s Best of America Small Paintings 2018, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 12×12, Bosque Art Classic, Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahoma Artists, and the Rusty Gables Spring Stampede .  Her painting “Trails End” received Best in Show at the Bauhaus Prairie Gallery’s Open a New Year show.

Tamara is a Spirit of the Buffalo artist, with two of her proposed designs accepted for the successful project sponsored by the Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma City. Her designs are included in The Spirit of the Buffalo, Oklahoma’s Past and Future by Linda Millier Bosteels.

Artist Statement

Biography

Artist Statement:

Last August I attended an outdoor dinner where one of the speakers was a local cowboy author who wore a large cowboy hat. While he told cowboy tales he set his hat on a nearby table not far from a small light bulb. As he spoke I adjusted my Sony camera and took a shot of the hat in the subdued light. The photo image was adjusted in Photo Brush-5 using Topaz Impressions app.

Artist Biography:

Gaylord Mink began his “artistic” life as a photographer when he retired after 40 years as a research scientist. He began this afterlife as a free-lance wildlife videographer where he concentrated on the movement and behavior of the wild subjects. Later he expanded to digital still photography where he now attempts to tell visual stories about the subject’s behavior. Recently he is focusing on incorporating light and texture as principle subjects in his work, most of which still centers around wildlife and natural things. Occasionally, however, he attempts surreptitious shots such as this one.