Artist
Bio…
Well
if you really want to know...
Born
February 2, 1951 - Manhattan, NY
Within
a few months after I came into this world my family moved to a 300 acre farm in
upstate New York. Nothing better could of ever happened to my childhood. I will
be eternally grateful to my Dad for wanting to make that move. I explored every
nook and cranny of the forest and could actually sit so still animals could come
right up to me and not even know I was there, until I started laughing.
My
formal art education did not begin until I was 16. Sadly being brought up in the
country, institutions for art training did not exist. So I had to improvise and
use the margins and back pages of my notebooks for my art lessons. More then
once I was told, that artwork should not be done unless I was completely
finished with class work. Where in actuality I would make sure the art was done
before the class work would even get started. You have to categorize your
priorities for stress relief.
From
1967 to 1970 I had two years of architectural and mechanical drawing and one
year of geometrical and technical design. I still use that knowledge to this day
as I occasionally design and make furniture.
From
1971 to 1976 I moved to the Schenectady area and studied various forms of linear
design, light and shade, composition and other aspects of fine art. I took all
the art curriculum at the local community college except for history of art. I
did scan the book in the college bookstore and came up with my own opinion that
it was too opinionated. Thinking that art is doing not criticizing. And who
really knows what is in the mind of an artist. Especially dead artists.
I
also took professional lessons at this time and studied a lot of live models.
I
had a few shows in the area and approached some galleries and small museums
In
1976 I moved to Arizona continuing with shows. I traveled through the southwest to
do other shows and still occasionally approached galleries. I had several
paintings reproduced by lithography companies for posters and lithographs for
national distribution.
For
years I continually experimented with my art trying to find what was
really me in this creative process called art. Not realizing that this time period was actually the development of
a personal approach to art. I assume I practiced at drawing and painting until I
felt I was ready for something... Now that I'm all grown up (physically) I stick to what I enjoy. I did fantasy and science fiction, still life's and landscapes,
some portraits and decor pieces. I also did my share of commercial art. But at any time when there was a quiet time between the necessities of
survival I did a spontaneous surrealistic approach to painting, resulting in a perception. And it took a few years for me to realize
this is what I am supposed to be doing.
In 1978 I was inspired to do a painting (which I titled "The Illusion of Susan"). It was my first piece that I did with the wash technique I use today. It took almost five years of wash paintings to get to the point where I was satisfied with the technique. At that time I started to produce paintings for the future book, "Perceptions". The painting "The Reflection" was the first painting I did with the conscious effort of creating paintings for the book.
Since 1983 I have continually worked on paintings and inkings for the book.
Michael Csontos