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Neal Spitzer: Artist
Realist Painter of People
 

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Camino Paintings

Figure Paintings 1

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Looking

I am retinal. I never slight the part my eyes play. I remember on what part of the page it is written. I can tell who in the room is your brother or sister or mother but not why you compete. I can describe the clothes or jewelry worn at the party but, having met them only once, may not remember the name of the wearer. In the sky, miles away, I see the hawk fly. I see the small bird on the branch full with leaves. Any change in pattern I notice. I see subtle changes in color, tone, or contrast.

As an American realist painter of people, my painting is all about looking. The paintings fall into two categories: people I have met on my travels or who have some significance in my life; or the artist, me, working with a model. My people are strong, capable people with a gift for dealing with whatever life presents.

My paintings generally proceed from a middle ground forward to involve the space the viewer occupies. Seen directly or in a mirror, what space does the artist, the model, the viewer occupy? As you enter this intimate space, with your engagement the painting can approach completion. I have been exploring a reduced pallet and knowing when to say enough is enough. In medieval and renaissance art there is light everywhere. Look at tonality, the red underpainting, the figures as shapes of color, the line, the composition; energy everywhere; the terrific energy of the wandering line. Painting the female figure is a living tradition. Now we can see the figure in new ways. My figures represent strong resourceful women. They adjust, adapt, triumph. They are not embarrassed by or ashamed of their bodies.

Within the figure paintings, I work with opened and closed landscapes: the opened landscape of the figure, the closed landscape of materials.

The visual leads me forward. I make images, pictures, and there there is a future.

In September/October of 2013
I walked the Camino Santiago de Compostela, a 1200 year old 500 mile pilgrimage route across northen Spain

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Camion Santiago de CompostelaNeal Spitzer, artist, realist painter of people, paintings, portraits, portrait commissions, limited edition archival prints Poetry in Public Places Neal Spitzer, artist, realist painter of people, paintings, portraits, portrait commissions, limited edition archival prints Poetry in Public Places Neal Spitzer, artist, realist painter of people, paintings, portraits, portrait commissions, limited edition archival prints Poetry in Public Places Neal Spitzer, artist, realist painter of people, paintings, portraits, portrait commissions, limited edition archival prints, Camino Santiago de Compostela

Neal Spitzer © 2016

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