Rik Shifty Art Design

This week we look at quick glimpse at some of my recent art pieces.  I enjoy creating clay sculptures and painting visions in my head or transposing a photograph to canvas, while modifying it to my liking.  I also have a passion for ink art whether in the form of abstraction, detailed drawings or fanciful designs.  The art influence that I see in the majority of my work would be somewhere between realism and impressionism.     I say realism because I enjoy nature and recreating it in some media, with the express intent to make it as real as I am capable of making it.  In respect to Impressionism, this comes from the use of bright colors and my interpretation of the light and what I see in the picture of my mind.   I tend to paint the shimmers of light or recreate what my camera eye caught; similar to Claude Monet where he captured the light in small spaces and creates a beautiful picture like “On the Bank of the Sienne, Bennecort”.   This is one of the paintings I am most proud of…I call it “Amante di Acqua”, Italian for “Lover of Water”.  It is approximately 60”x34” and framed with two pieces of drift wood I found and cured over a couple of winters.  This is probably my best work that still survives to this day. 

The second piece I will show you was never titled.  I had it finished and it did not survive delivery day.  This piece was a huge time investment and it was shattered on route to the art show.  

I put approximately 40 hours into the wing itself.  Made of porcelain, and very fragile, I carefully carved out the porcelain on both sides; extravagant feathers on one side and the other side photographed.  This photo is the only proof that it existed and I wish I had more.  This was the masterpiece to date for me and ……..I just teared up…….hold on……….ok…  Back to it.

Many works of art have been made by my hands, but very few will I share with anyone.  They all have a special place to me, and of course the fact that I am my most qualified critic, I want to make sure that whatever has my name attached to it be just what I intended it to be.   I usually look back on a piece and say that really is missing something.  I shelve it and maybe come back to it later (months).  I think I approach the definition of OCD sometimes and I get completely immersed in a project, and if it isn’t turning out, I immediately forget and throw all my other eggs in the new basket for awhile.  The work that Central has seen, has been completely uninspired; which is of no one’s doing, I have just had my primary focus other places, and operating within a deadline is difficult for me sometimes.  If I feel inspired I can whip something up in a day, but otherwise months might go by.  Can you really call it “art” if you are forced to come up with something?  It may look like art but it certainly won’t have much extrinsic meaning.   

My mother was quite the artist, so sometimes I wonder if there is a genetic piece that has transferred on.  Like other abilities passed to children, perhaps art aptitude is as well.