HEATHER CHONTOS

Can I just tell you how incredible giddy I was to be able to interview one of my favorite artists, Heather Chontos? I am in love with her bold, colorful, expressive works. Here are some of my favorite pieces and Heather's wisdom on what it means to be an artist, what inspires her and how the everyday inspires new color in her work...

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I knew I wanted to be an artist when I was in University in London, studying art history. I had  a lot of friends going to the Slade school of art and was quite jealous that they all got to e in their studios. I was studying art,but from a different perspective. I wanted to make it, not examine it. 

The unexpected art supply you can’t live without…

Ha, ha.... plastic cards, for example: old credit cards, gifts cards from Starbucks, hotel key cards, etc... I use them to paint with. I am useless without one!

Dream dinner party... (4-5 guests, living or dead...)

Such a great question!! painter Helen Frankenthaler, artist ( I met him this summer, he says he is not a painter) Alfons Borrel, fashion designer - Issey Miyake, Nina Simone, Jackson Pollock and artist/designer - Sonia Delaunay. 

Favorite contemporary artist/s

I am more inspired by artists from before.

How do you feed your head? (What inspires you?)

SO many things inspire me/ Traveling is a big one, colors,meeting new people, falling in love, falling out of love, brilliant moments of quiet and serenity, chaos, basically life and its grand roller coaster.

What's inspiring you at the moment? 

I am inspired right now by different shades of pink, and how I see shades of pink everywhere. This morning through the fog, riding my bike with my daughter to her school, we noticed that the sky was the faintest shade of portrait pink, gleaming through the thick fog. It was kind of the perfect color, so I came home afterwards and tried to replicate it. I think I've got it!

(photo from Maine Today)

Fear in art, how do you fight it?

I don’t have any fear in art, its what I am meant to do. I strongly believe that, and so there is nothing to be afraid of...

My uniform... 

My very heavy, paint soaked apron, a vintage striped brooks brothers shirt from the Goodwill, black jeans and my wellies.

What you wish you had known when you were just starting out:

That... its ok if everybody doesn't love what you are doing, just as long as you do.

On the nightstand... (What are you reading?)

The Goldfinch. Such a great book...

View more of Heather's work here

WHAT IS ART?

Because Stephanie Walker has such an eloquent way of saying what I can only feel and paint...wanted to share with you a link to her latest post on what art is and why it is important to us:

"You know, that feeling of your heart suddenly fluttering inside your chest when you see a piece or you feel like you were kicked in the gut because the air was all taken out of your lungs as you gasped at a piece. Sometimes we are so deeply moved by a work of art, we simply cannot move. We are stuck in time and space. "

KENT MICHAEL SMITH - CARRIE SECRIST GALLERY

Made of acrylic, spray paint and resin on panels, the work of Kent Michael Smith caught my eye this week. He's currently the Director of Marketing at Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City and is represented by Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO and Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago, IL. 

"Composed of hovering masses of suspended geometric forms which produce both faux and literal shadows onto each other as well as onto the autonomous backgrounds; these paintings thrive within a realm of ambiguous representation." -Kent Michael Smith

BILL SCOTT - HOLLIS TAGGART GALLERIES

Today's post features the bold, vibrant work of artist Bill Scott and the recent exhibition of his work at the Hollis Taggart Gallery in NYC.

"Scott fuses his local artistic heritage together with the raw energy embedded in her abstractions. It is this unique combination of influences—including abstract compositions, saturated color, calligraphic line, large scale, and pure vitality—that drive Scott’s paintings and instill them with expressive spirit." -Facebook/ArtistBillScott

SEE MORE OF SCOTT'S WORK HERE

VISIT THE HOLLIS TAGGART GALLERY HERE

ARTIST GARY LANG

California-based contemporary artist Gary Lang's hypnotic use of color lifts us out of the ordinary. Can only imagine the effect these massive works have in person in surrounding the viewer with their inherent energy and motion and mesmerizing combination of color. "Lang’s paintings pulse, hum and throb. Some are abuzz with electrifying energy. Many seem to be breathing, their rings appearing to protrude into the room and then, as if exhaling, to tunnel back into deep space. Time doesn’t stand still so much as every second seems to be so full of so much good stuff that it seems longer than usual." - David Pagel, Los Angeles Time Review

“My painting process is a vehicle for crossing the threshold. Simply put it is a spiritual adventure that employs discipline and savors changeability. The wellspring source of the work is a mutating truth, which is what I nurture and what I am." - Gary Lang

SEE MORE OF LANG'S WORK AT ACE GALLERY

AT QUINT GALLERY