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Biography from The Columbus Museum-Georgia:
| Steven Assael is known for his realistic figurative painting. As
a child he showed an interest and skill in drawing. He attended
the Pratt Institute in the 1970s, when figural art was less in favor
than minimalist painting and sculpture, process art, and word art.
Despite this proclivity toward abstraction, Assael and a group of
like-minded artists pursued their interest in figurative painting.(1)
Assael seeks to portray the heroic image in his contemporary
compositions, much in the manner of a Caravaggio, a Velásquez, or a
Goya, all of whom dealt with very complex and challenging images in
their most mature and successful works. With consummate skill,
the artist builds surfaces to accurately reflect various textures and
to suggest complex psychological scenarios.
In a 1995 statement for a group show at Queen’s College, New York,
Assael wrote: "From a conscious abandonment of modernist tenets grew a
yearning fro reconciliation and redemption for the figure in painting.…
The play between the historical and the contemporary… can fill the work
with internal oppositions. These opposing forces, by the way of
unpredictable juxtapositions and narrative contradictions, challenge
the viewer to find balance and equilibrium." (2)
Assael does not use photographs to compose his paintings; instead, he
relies on observation and drawings. From the start, drawing has
been both a support for and a release from painting. His skilled
draftsmanship is evident in minute details and in larger concerns such
as defining human forms and clothing.
1. James Mann, “Steven Assael: "The Challenge of Realism,” American Art Quarterly
13, no. 1 (Winter 1996): 22-30. also, see Adrian Dannatt and Steven
Assael, “Painting the fullness of experience,” Art Newspaper.Com, vol.
13 no.130 (Nov. 2002).
2. Ibid.
Submitted by the Staff, Columbus Museum |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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