Dan Petrov
Dan Petrov has worked hard to reclaim the old Renaissance style of oil painting, producing luscious still-life and portraits.
Artist’s statement:
My interest in oil painting formed very early with the realization that painting simultaneously takes me in three different directions: into the world, in the painting process and in the introspective process. It became obvious that technical skills of observation and application were paramount for visual expression and that is the reason that my painting practice was deeply rooted in Renaissance and Flemish Oil Painting Method combined with some contemporary aspects of Direct Painting Method.
In Still Life genre objects are not just the forms that receive the light. These paintings are conveying our existential relation to the nature and production that is in function of our sustenance and life. It also elevates our perception from mundane and ordinary to the level of beauty.
If we think about still life painting as a tool of transcendence of daily life, we cultivate higher experience of reality. In genres of portrait and figure I am interested to explore aspects of human condition, individuality, character, themes and feelings of impermanence, loss, grief, uncertainty and choices that are optimistic beyond the shallow feeling of happiness and directed to the meaning of individual and collective.
Artist Bio:
Dan Petrov is classically trained and educated art teacher and independent studio artist with 25 years of experience in assisting students in learning and developing understanding of all formal elements of visual representation with special focus on traditional oil painting techniques and methods of painting. Specializing in Renaissance and Flemish Oil Painting Method and modern forms of Alla Prima painting as fundamental skills for contemporary expression in painting.