PRINTED ECHOES

AN EXHIBITION OF
PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS 
FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMY SCHOOL
5 East 89th Street
JANUARY 8 - FEBRUARY 2, 2013
SONIA GECHTOFF GALLERY

     

Column © 2012 Rafael Ferran

                                            
 My etching Column will be exhibited along side others and by the way it's a great looking show that was curated by the Academy's distinguished director 
  Maurizio Pellegrin. 






http://www.nationalacademy.org/art-school/student-faculty-exhibitions/

From Travel Pictures To Art, Part 2

   Venice has a mix of many styles of architecture, while the local color is influenced by the temperature of day and patina of the varied surfaces. People ask me what artist/artists inspired my pieces. I can say the Synthetic Cubism paintings by Picasso and Brague, the collages by Kurt Schwitters and the photo montages by David Hockney
                                         

   Tintoretto © 2012 Rafael Ferran

My photo Tintoretto was taken in the Sestiere di Canaregio on the northern end of Venice. The taller building in the center is the home and studio of that great Venetian painter. Today tourist can find lodging there. Also the Botega di Tintoretto, an art school is located on the street level. I collaborated with a master printer there, but that will be for another blog in the near future. I used the photo as the  reference for my piece Buildings.

Buildings © 2012 Rafael Ferran

Buildings is an abstraction derived from a restructuring of the three point perspective in the photograph.. The transfer of sky into separate blue areas works well with the fragmentation of the structure into distinct architectural details, e.g., windows, gutters, roof tops, interior rooms, doorway entrance, and street.  The materials utilized are photographs, store coupons and magazine reproductions. They were assembled and then enlarged with the Xerox copier. The image was transferred onto archival paper. Paint color was added for some details. 

From Travel Pictures to Art

                                                                         

I am an artist and my first entry as a blogger will of course be about my art.

In 2006, I visited Venice, Italy on a travel prize and used the experience to make new art. 

  

Because it was once a gateway between Western Europe and Asia, Venice has become a city rich in history and diverse cultural influences. The architecture there boasts examples from the Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque & Neoclassicism. The famous Basilica di San Marco attracts millions of worshipers and tourists from all over the world who arrive there by way of the Grand Canal. The artist Tintoretto lived and worked there for most of his life.  Venice hosts the Biennale Internazionale d'Arte which is famous for its art exhibitions and the artists who show.

With my camera I photographed just about anything and everything that caught my attention. Even during those times when I felt that I  had walked right into a labyrinth, as I meandered here and there, turning corners and walking into one dead end after another, there was always something to photograph. Palaces, churches, bridges, gondolas, markets, mansions, and the architectural details were all caught on my camera lens eye. The gods were always providing me with a Kodak moment at the end of the maze!

                                    

Calle  © 2012 Rafael Ferran

Calle was photographed during my stroll about the city. It is not grandiose and I snapped it for that reason. This photo became the ground work for a collage which I in turn enlarged using the image transfer technique. The architectural details and perspective of the street inspired me to create Arcade.

Arcade  © 2012 Rafael Ferran

      I overlapped and scaffold shapes and planes to imitate the space that medieval artists used in Gothic painting, sculpture and architecture.