Marc Schimsky – Abstract Art Exhibition

Artist: Marc Schimsky of Commack, NY

2013 Abstracts Art Exhibition – MyArtContest.com

Although I hold a degree in printmaking, I have been painting in oils and acrylics since 2005. I move frequently between abstraction and figurative works. I have always been fascinated by the ephemeral nature of life and the passage of time. When I’m painting I attempt to capture and preserve experiences and the personalities that inhabit them. I enjoy probing the psychology of my subjects by freeze-framing them mid-stream in a familiar activity. Recently, I’ve been trying to capture in my work that certain sense of a moment lost or of an encounter missed. Ultimately, my intention is to reveal something mysterious, quirky or magical about a person, a moment, or an encounter.

I try to maintain a vibrant color palette and employ Expressionistic brushwork in my paintings. My figurative works are inspired by the paintings of Eric Fischl. Like Fischl, my compositions are derived from photographs that I take of my family and friends.

Borrowing qualities found in photography, I occasionally blur parts of the figure with a pattern of overlapping shapes in the hope of enhancing a sense of movement in my work. In this way, I evoke some of the principles of Futurism that I especially admire.

I am drawn to the intuitive and improvisational aspects of abstraction. I find the challenge of creating an abstraction “liberating.” Many of my abstractions are inspired by the works of Willem deKooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell. The content of these abstractions are largely based on blind intuitive drawings executed as reactions to auditory stimuli.

My mixed media abstractions are inspired by the works of Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers and other members of the Neo-Dadaist movement of the 1950s and 60s and communicate my interest in memory, the passage of time, the ephemeral nature of life, history and travel.

There is a physicality to printmaking (especially etching) that simply does not exist in the realm of any other print medium. An etching is an art object in itself. It is almost sculptural. For me, the feel of pressing or embedding an image into the  fibers of a fine imported piece of 100% rag paper is extremely sensual.

I’ve done hundreds of digital prints, paintings and mixed media works in my professional life but nothing compares to the physical and spiritual experience of making a print by hand on a press.

I find the repetition in the hand print process very appealing. There’s something very meditative about it.

My solar plate etchings are a bridge between digitally collaged images and real, tangible art objects. The content of these etchings are based on bits and pieces of found vintage images and my own contemporary photos. I have brought these things together to create what I like to call a “recycled narrative”.