MIRACLES OF THE ART: February 2012

This still life painting was produced during a very difficult time. Her grandson Jimmy Stump was diagnosed with cancer. Starr is not a stranger to illness her self. She was five years old when diagnosed with polio. The progression of this disease required extensive surgery when she turned ten. Starr spent two years in a full body cast. The discipline that causes her to be a great artist worked to heal her body. She still cycles 5 miles each day, plus a rigorous aerobic workout, and a diet of natural and healthy foods..

When you truly study Starr's work, one finds how emotional and meaningful her art is to her. Jimmy's cancer was in remission after surgery, a frustrating time. Will it return? How can I prevent it from ever coming back? This painting speaks.

A beautiful teapot full of warm Herb teas, grains, and natural wheat bread, the staff of life. As you study this still life painting, and all of the healthy foods, Starr's frustration, tears, her supplications are placed on canvas. Offering up that her grandson will be healed.

Painted masterfully, with perfecting composition nothing less would be good enough for Jimmy. One must wonder if the effort, time and standard for beauty found in STARR'S art is not a reflection of the reverence she pays to the messages she paints.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

John Salminen’s Abstract Paintings

Abstract In Pink, 40"X30", oil on canvas, 2010, Maxim Grunin

Abstract In Pink, 40"X30", oil on canvas, 2010, Maxim Grunin

Contemporary none-objective painting by Maxim Grunin

Sunset Memory, 30"X40", oil on canvas, 2010

Even though my work has the unique qualities that belong to my personal method of painting, I am inclined to look at it's similarities with the works of the famous artists. Knowing about the origins of my work helps to understand it's relationship to art History and art practice. My paintings are reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionism that originated in the late 1940s in America. Mark Rothko's color field painting is evident at the base of my work. The soft blending of the tinted colors in my paintings is not a direct borrowing of the images of the master. It has a lot more of my intention to create moody atmospheric appearing surface in the background. I am not concerned with the bold color statement but rather with the viewer's eyes reading the transition of quiet colors. Wilhelm de Kooning's dynamic action painting is visible in my work as well. The unavoidable lively marks on top of the smooth ground in my paintings result from the vigorous strokes of a palette knife and a brush. Jackson Pollock's drip painting emerges when the paint is thrown and splattered across the canvas. I achieve a composite of several modes pioneered by the great masters of the past.