Recently I made a very sharp turn in my painting style towards the traditional language of the so-called “old masters”. This language that I am trying to use was developed through centuries of art history, from the Middle Ages to our times. As one might imagine, any change of painting style cannot be accomplished by pushing a button on the remote. This is a real and ongoing challenge for me. It has involved a period of serious study, drawing and painting of the human figure, brushing up on my knowledge of anatomy, for a start. Even the greatest artists continued improving their mastery throughout life, and learning from their predecessors, so I am really excited about the new challenge of being their imaginary apprentice. The world we live in today, with all its technology and megalopolises, makes us assume that humanity has entered a completely new stage of development. In many cases it's true. But I would like to focus more on the task of unveiling and understanding those aspects of our being where we aren't so different from people that lived centuries before and from those that might come after us. I started thinking of innovation in art. I realized that my innovation shouldn't reach the point where I began speaking a language that nobody understands -- or that people are forced to pretend that they understand. Thinking of art today, viewers seem to be floating in a confusing vacuum between a language we have lost and one we have not yet gained. I also realized that I can't jump out of my contemporary skin; I'm contemporary no matter what I do. So much of my energy was wasted on the simple act of staying contemporary, and why is it so important to my viewers? Is that the core question? I decided to try to make art that is more relevant to other people; my perception will be embedded in it anyway.
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