Gary Schwartz – Artist Statement
“ANACHRONISM”
…a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.
"Everything was as it would have appeared in VERMEER’S HOLLAND of the baroque Golden Age, apart from one anachronism, a young lady of the Dutch Renaissance is sitting in a sporty 1950’s bright red convertible roadster in front of Cape May’s Congress Hall”.
In this latest series of acrylics on canvas, I am exploring the theme of anachronistic imagery, specifically morphing Kodachrome color slides of the 19th through 21st centuries, with appropriated imagery from the Dutch Golden Age of around 600 years ago. Characters and objects depicted by painters such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals, will be transported to mid 20th century Cape May New Jersey, for instance.
My paintings begin by my rummaging through hundreds of photographs. These might include my own photography, stock photography from the internet, or photos and slides from family albums. When I stumble upon pictures that I feel would make interesting painted compositions I start playing around in Photoshop. After morphing various locals and time periods into a cohesive composition, I print out a hard copy of what will be my reference sketch for the painting. I then either project the image right onto the canvas or utilize a grid method to draw a tight blueprint. Then it is a matter of spending anywhere from one to three months painting layers of acrylic and varnish to create the desired effects.
My work is a form of POP hyper realism combined with the sensibility of the social realists of the Ashcan School such as Edward Hopper and Reginald Marsh, along the way tipping my hat to David Hockney, Magritte, Dali, and the aforementioned Dutch Masters.
I grew up in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn New York in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This gritty landscape has had an enormous influence on the art that I create today in 2022. It is also why I am so attracted to seaside communities around the world.