Biography Continued

Artist Statement:
'Many artists find it difficult to communicate verbally, that is why we let our artwork speak for us. Pictorially we tell the viewer our mood, thoughts, and our experience. If an artist wants to portray emotion or drama, it will show in their work, either it being low in contrast to show a soft emotion, or heavy with contrast to evoke a strong dramatic response. It is not simply talent, but effort and proficiency that can be seen in ones artwork.'

Born in Torrance CA, in 1965 at the end of WWII and the transition into Vietnam, my visual stimulants were influenced by black and white movies, war time movies, and family photos of service men. Bed ridden during most of my adolescent life, I looked towards television and national geographic for escape from my shadowed life and watched old war time movies and movie stars for entertainment. I found myself fascinated with the qualities of black and white and began sketching trying to represent what I was watching as well as the movie celebrities within them. It was also at this time that my love of photography and custom hot rods began.

After ten years of being a certified mechanic after high school, my art studies started at CSUC during the Fall of 2001. During the first semester of photography classes, the photograph 'Lancia' was published in Photographer's Forum: Best of College Photography Annual 2002. Since then, other published works consist of: 'Burney Blues': American Library of Photography 2002, and 'Casting Softly': Field & Stream contest winner 2003. I continued my education to earn my degrees of BS in Applied Computer Graphics and Majored in Art Studio 2005.

Immediately after graduation, I committed my life as a full-time freelance artist and started working along side with fellow local artists for over the past six years. Wherein, I have been creating visual conceptual designs with 3D modeling software and creating photo-composites for art commission proposals. Being a freelance artist has allowed me the time to also follow my passion for creating my own artwork.

For over the past four years, and being diverse in several art disciplines, I have reconnected with my past and drawing skills and have applied my knowledge of design, lighting, and perspective to infuse my talents into semi-photo-realistic drawings with exceptional detail, accuracy and artistry.

Several of my mixed media drawings have a symbolic or a muted correspondence between foreground and background where their juxtapositions compliment each other to create a narrative. An exploration of mixing drawing styles of high detailed photo-realism and a loose painterly / freehand feel interlaced within the use of mixed mediums to achieve a recognizable style.

Thank you for taking your time to read more about me. I hope it helps gives you a better understanding of where my creativity comes from and why I am an artist.

Peter