| Gary L. Schumer | ||
| Birth Date: 1952 |
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Artist Gallery |
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| When you look at this painting – do you find modern day symbols? Gary Schumer best explained his work when he wrote the following:
“I avoid the category, “Photorealist”. This classification implies that the photograph is the model and the ultimate demonstration of pictorial illusion. I choose not to work from photographs except when they are included as part of my subject matter. Like a project slide within the image.
I work in the presence of the objects I paint. I may spend a great deal of time organizing and staging the set-ups. Sometimes I paint on the objects or wrap them in plastic. I may upset predictable views by the use of mirrors or odd angles.
A painting is an object, a canvas plane covered with colored shapes. But a painting may also function as an imitator of appearances, as a surrogate figural landscape or an object preserved in time and space.
I have researched previous art historical periods. The many levels of meaning inherent in these traditional works have left their impressions on my work. In 17th century Northern European painting a lighted candle represented a divine presence. A butterfly became a symbol for a sprit or soul. Candles may be replaced by light bulbs and the spirit represented by a mirror reflection and the painting becomes a symbol for ideas”.
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