ART is a DIRECT REFLECTION
Wall Based Art - Primarily my biggest concern is form or composition with color and tonality secondary. Since I work mostly in abstraction my wall art is on a larger scale. I try to use familiar objects and place them in unfamiliar situations. In my opinion negative space is much more important than the objects themselves. I love simplicity and minimalism, so the works of Mark Rothko (late works), Susan Rothenberg and Joan Miro are greatly followed. When it comes to Furniture as Art, I take it to literally mean art as in fine arts. I try for subtlety, motion, organics and feel in my creations. I make pieces that whisper quietly into your eyes and beckons you to come ever closer. I often go to shops and galleries that carry my pieces and love to watch the peoples reactions when they pass by. Some just walk by, others stop and look, and then there are those that stop, stare for a moment and slowly reach out to touch that piece, all of which puts a smile on my face. Favorite Quote - Throughout my college years I became increasingly disillusioned with higher art education and resolved myself the philosophy that creativity is an objective truth that cannot be taught, and that education may instill false notions within an individual that will actually stifle creativity. Artist Kelly Billette Favorite Quote - Seattle Artist Michael Carrico, Art, today, encompasses the dream postponed into anything-goes. Justified in letting the artist descend into mediocrity, spiraling around an ego put upon a pedestal. As if, all that a person does is art. And it is... Yet today we look at the arts as if everything is the fine craftsmanship of a great artist, and much of it isn't. Until you become yourself what benefit can you be to others? Mediocrity appeals to the mass, and it appeals to the mass ego. And though it may be art, it is not the exceptional dream, enchanting the child, like a kiss walking home to my knowledge, in an unformulated illustration which wakes me up. PERSONAL HEROES - My work is influenced by the diversity and longevity of Picasso and Matisse, the creativity of Baltimore Artist Paul Mintz, the raw talent of Philadelphia Native Adam Collison and MICA Graduate Michael Hamilton. This shot of my exhibit at the New Hope Arts Festival, New Hope, Pennsylvania Abstract Work - I have started some abstract projects trying to incorporate and learn about how colors react with one another. To be quite honest, abstract work is not nearly as simple as it seems. Because you are not working with any preconceived object in mind or physical model, color, composition and balance is so much more critical and complex. Abstraction #1, this is Acrylics on Wood, it's my favorite piece as far as abstracts go! BACKGROUND - Carefully groomed to become someone while attending 13 years of Private School Education. Then set loose on public streets to find myself at the George Washington University, Washington, DC. Current work includes design and construction of Bookcases, Cabinets and Furniture as well as Wall Art. My works are currently in private collections from North Carolina to Upstate New York. I work exclusively in wood with found objects, string, plaster and acrylics. My love of old city architecture can be found in most of my cabinet work. My Wall Art, includes Art Clocks to Nudes. Contact me at rick@theunartist.com or visit my studio at http://artundergroundstudio.com if in Baltimore. Thanks!