present global art gallery eric holzman artist statement

The Bellelli Family by Degas. I felt its emotional truth, its psychological weight,
and its sadness. It was slow, elegant and full of atmosphere. The Italians, Fra
Angelico, Giotto, Piero, Titian etc. helped me further connect to and reveal my
true self, i.e., what I have to offer as a painter. Values such as empathy,
emotionality, spirituality and dignity became the foundation of my work.

Presently I am working on several fronts, landscape figure and stillife. Through
the element of portraiture, which all my work shares, I am able to keep my work
asserting itself in the present. I paint atmospheric space that is deep, suggestive,
sensual, and in tension with the surface. Further, through a relatively three-
dimensional rendering of form in space, relative to most modernism, I evoke an
empathetic relationship with my subject. I aim for intimacy without sacrificing
my subjects’ dignity. Capturing something of the play between life and death in
a subject creates tension and vulnerability.

As with a portrait, my subjects are usually placed toward the center of the
canvas, so my pictures are simply conceived, but full of movement. I always
begin by painting from life. Often, the bottom of my canvases supports a lot of
weight. I can take perceptual liberties with color and design, as I am amazed
and inspired by eastern art, which always infers the presence of the gods, or of
the sacred.

I am not a realist, though I aspire in part to be one. I am called to stretch
pictorial representation, while remaining grounded in perception. I want to
express the mysterious snap of each successive moment as the miracle of
existence is revealed.

Landscape painting has opened many doors for me. It was here that I first
consciously experienced universal energy, or life force. It flowed through the
trees, and vibrated all around me. The branches defying gravity, surging
upward toward the heavens, while simultaneously the grounding drive of roots,
deep into the earth. These forces have become both the formal and
metaphysical foundation of my work.

The sky is above us, and the earth is below. We are in the middle. One foot is in
the Garden of Eden, and the other is upon our ecologically imperiled planet. We
are aspiring, we are wounded, and we are heroic. I carry these feelings in me,
and try to express them in my work.