1st Place Winner: George Barecca

Winner of the Summer 2011 Competition

EVOLUTION OF REVOLUTION

Art as a medium for change.

BOY IN THE CHICKEN MASK

oil on canvas

64 x 48 in
6000. usd

artist statement

I have been drawing since kindergarten and was later seduced by color into painting. I started out painting abstracts, but found that working in all of the classic painting genres greatly improved my technical reach while providing invaluable lessons towards the practice of painting. My current style evolved by overlaying my abstract leanings onto my representational work with color as the defining element.

The Boy in the Chicken Mask was created within a series of figurative works, exploring the issues of identity, conformity and alienation. I believe this work embodies all of these issues. The boy is forced into a situation to conform to what passes as the norm or what is “Chic” (part of being a Chicken). Will conforming to this “role” aid in his success in life or hinder it? What is success? In his innocence, he sees this empty posing for what it truly is. But he must risk alienation by revolting against this current “system” to evolve into the man he believes he should be. It is the challenge we all face living within the constaints of our social standards and practices. Revolution on a personal level. To revolt against what is expected of us in order to evolve into the person we believe in our hearts we should be. For everyone this is different and that is the point. To allow our differences to define us in a communal situation, which adds to and does not detract from the beautiful tapestry of life.

bio

George Barecca graduated in 1977 from Ramapo College of New Jersey with an MA with a concentration in fine arts. He studied under Robert Bero and Joanna Pousette-Dart. He then took post-graduate classes at the Pratt School of Art & Design.

He went on to have relationships with interior decorators through which he sold to a variety of collectors. He has been involved in several art groups in NYC with which he has exhibited and sold his work. He had a solo show sponsored by one of his patrons. His work can be found in the collections of both private individuals and public companies.

george barecca

brooklyn, new york [USA]

www.georgebarecca.com

georgebarecca@gmail.com

ArtSceneToday Q&A

Q: Where do you see yourself in the art scene today?

A: My job description should be to elevate the mundane to the sublime: to offer another possibility of a way of seeing the world.

Q: What is in your inspiration?

A: The idea of the Great Void and that everything exists within it. I try to express this by putting the background on an equal footing with the foreground. Many of my works make use of a darkness out of which the subjects emerge. Boy in the Chicken Mask was one of my first works that brings the subject into the light of a clear sky.

Q: What are your challenges?

A: I have so many ideas, my greatest challenge is to complete as many as possible and then to grow each of my separate genres closer together until they are seen as one. Life as it is in all of its manifestations.

Q: How did you/do you choose your medium?

A: I am a painter. I use oil paints for all of my major pieces for the purity and subtleties of color that can be achieved.

Q: Which artist has influenced you the most?

A: No one artist has influenced me. It is a collection of giants whose work has shown me the possibilities of painting. I would have to say Picasso most of all, because his process is actually visible in his pieces and his creativity was boundless. But I would also have to give mention to Kandinsky and many of our contemporaries such as, Gerhard Richter, Eric Fischl, Brice Marden and Terry Winters. And just starting that list makes me realize how many more artists I truly admire and have influenced me.

GO TO

EVOLUTION OF REVOLUTION

Exhibition Page

other works by the artist