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FAQ


This FAQ page serves to help people find the information they need quickly. If you need additional info, please don't hesitate to ask.

» What inspires you?
  • Art in general. Becoming an artist has always been my only true ambition. Being creative and artistically productive is my primary goal in life. Which isn't to say I have no other interests and can't spend a good portion of my time on things I have to do, rather than want to do, but art is the only thing I can't live without.
    As for the visual arts, female beauty is a main source of inspiration, which sounds corny, but many artists feel that way, just look at Rembrandt, Picasso, Vermeer, Corot, Modigliani etc etc: their most inspired pieces are female portraits.
    However, beauty shouldn't be taken too literally, as it are the deeper psychological aspects of a portrait that give it its value.
    Also, I frequently scour the internet for impressions of subjects to paint and the pictures that impress me are of people involved in the struggle for life. With regard to that, inspiration isn't quite the right word, but I guess your question stems from being interested to know how I pick my subjects.
» How do you choose your colors and subjects?
  • As for colors:

    When I start a new painting session, I look at my painting wondering what to do next and then an image of the painting with a certain color added flashes through my mind. So it doesn't start with any specific thoughts but with a flash of imagination, a micro-dream, if you will. Then, when I actually start to paint, I put the color of paint on my brush that I had in mind and I often end up painting something different than I had in mind, but in that color. The clue is that it feels right.

    As for the subject:

    People tend to believe the choice of subject says a lot about the artist, but I think it says something about the model, if anything. For instance, because of the portrait at http://paintings.name/image-files/locked-in-time.php, some people thought it was an expression of me being a sad person, while in fact the model had a certain "tristesse" about her, without necessarily being a "sad person". In my paintings it's never quite the way it looks. The art comes from the subconscious, which is undefinable.
    For me art is also a way to materialize my dream world, which acts as a counter-balance to the real world. I think everybody's mind works that way, in the sense that everybody needs a virtual place in his/her mind that is ideal, but my way is more visual, probably.
» What does your art mean?
  • If I could easily communicate a painting's meaning in words, would it be abstract then? The essence of abstract painting is that it simply IS, AS IS. Without any prior or after the fact intentions. Some call abstract art a "pure visual experience", as opposed to something you think about a lot. If it has meaning, then it's implicit: things of meaning I add without knowing.
» Do you identify with your models?
  • Hard to say, actually. How well do you know yourself? There were times I felt sort of embarrassed with all the female portraits I produced, maybe because of the "let's lump all weirdoes together" state of mind. Therefore I tried to paint men also, but as a non-binary person I have little artistic interest in the psychology of my biological gender, leading to a rather caricatural rendering. In other words: Itīs complicated.
» Would you like to exchange links?
  • The days that a proficient individual can trump big business on Google are over, so I've given up link exchange totally. Good luck, though, don't be discouraged.
» Hiiiiiiii, I'm from China, would you like to buy some inexpensive, good quality paintings?
  • I thoroughly respect the Chinese spirit of enterprise, but your email is just a bit spammy. And no, I'm neither a buyer nor seller of paintings. Warm greetings to China.
» We are one of the 800 art galleries in New York City, and we're doing you the gargantuan honor of allowing you to participate in our exhibition. Please make the $3000 fee payable as soon as possible, we'll take 50% of your sales.


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