Gia Elisa Holderman, Susan Kozodoy Silkowitz & Michael Markopoulos – Realism Art Exhibition

2014 Realism Art Exhibition – MyArtContest.com

Gia Elisa Holderman – League City, TX

I was interested in art early as a child. I was usually by myself during my elementary years, so that led to being “self-taught” to draw and paint, attempting to duplicate images that I liked. I graduated with a BFA from the local university, and later went on the get my M.S. I soon learned that being an artist pays very little and so I went into public service as a means to survive financially. All my discretionary time was focused on my painting.

It was my exposure to Art History in college that led me to discover and appreciate the Dutch Masters, as well as Impressionism, with pointillism becoming favorite ….  With photo realism, I was intrigued with how a human could reproduce an image with paint and canvas,  that is seen by the human eye, and capture it.  I quickly learned that duplicating on canvas what I could see would be a long and tedious studio journey.  I studied with Richard Womack Wood for a short period of time before his untimely death. He gave me the encouragement, along with some key insights, that helped hone and mature my abilities.

I have been doing pointillism off and on since college. I consider it my fun style of painting, being a bit free and unbridled. There are so many points of color, in tight proximity, which then form other colors of shadow and light once mixed within the viewer’s eye. What freedom! It is easy to twist, massage and rearrange life within pointillism. This is something not possible when creating photo realism.

 I embed a subtle foundation-story within my still-life realism paintings.  Subject matter is arranged and strategically placed to support it. Each viewer is encouraged to engage their own creativity. Utilizing the details in the painting, they create their own moment, and perhaps even a full story. The paintings speak to different people with different voices, evoking emotions and feelings that are genuine and unique. And these individual paths, may or may not, be in the same direction as that of the artist.

Drawing is the most basic and fundamental start to my paintings, be it realism or pointillism.  If an artist can see it and draw it, then adding colors and shading and depth, has always been the enjoyable part. My husband says I’m akin to a crow, always being drawn to things that sparkle. I try to capture that moment when light sparkles in my work. It is crisp, engaging, fleeting and always memorable. And it causes the viewer to spend time examining my work, and hopefully be better able to absorb some of the emotional investment that I have put in them.

Paintings reveal something about the individual artist who created them.  Some are quite striking with their looseness and light. Then there are those that spend a year or two on one painting to make it a genuine gift of their abilities and time. For now, my love of realism and pointillism will continue to keep me engaged as the primary protocols for producing my Art.

Michael Markopoulos – Del Mar, CA

Style:
My style is obviously based on geometric forms. I have been most influenced by Cezanne and his vision of geometric forms in nature–though of course I have applied them to abstract designs. I was also influenced by Kandinsky whom I always enjoyed and did not fully appreciate until I saw a recent exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York. Nothing in a book could prepare me for the depth and colors I saw in his paintings. I can only hope to touch on his techniques. Finally I owe a thanks to Ad Reinhardt, a first generation abstract expressionist. Reinhardt studied geometric form and color and could make shapes literally appear and disappear in his paintings. That he could do this without the use of computers is amazing.

Technique:
My work is definitely painting even in the oldest sense. But how can I call my work “painting” if I produce the art on my computer? This way. I first outline all the forms and their relationships on my virtual canvas–just as I would on a real canvas. Then, just like in real painting, I add the colors to every shape. Finally I make changes and modifications, add shading and dimensionality just as I would with acrylics on canvas. Finally, many of my works can be produced in my studio with actual acrylics and canvas, these now being one-of-a-kind signed works.

Subject Matter:
I love learning and everything interests me. As you can see from my various galleries, the subject matter of my work, though abstract, covers everything from the arts to philosophy to science to history. Sometimes you will be able to see the subject in my work, or the idea of the subject, but generally you will not. It is how I feel about the work. Sometimes the idea comes first, sometimes the art. My first series, the Philosopher’s Series, was influenced by my background. I am of Greek origin and the Greek philosophers have always interested me greatly. From there all sorts of subjects blossomed and expanded. However, I do have representational galleries as well where the subject is obvious, like a tree, or a guitar. Regardless you will still see the strong elements of geometry in these works.

Susan Kozodoy Silkowitz – Lynbrook, NY