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Myron
Heise began painting outside on 42nd Street, during the
70s, with Ronnie DeNota and Tad Day. On the seedy
edge of 42nd Street, they often found their subject matter:
smelly side-alleys, garbage, with homeless people and staggering
drunks often portrayed in their mood of lonliness, despondency
and desperation. Painting is not supposed to be genteel, rather
it should be challenging in some way. When an artist improvises,
his soul comes out. As for subject matter, it's an attitude
that takes over. What happens in the street helps the artist
move through his transitions and transcendent states.
Over the
last several years, Myron Heise often paints with Ronald
DeNota and Andy Pizzo around the city. Collectively,
their reason for painting outside was to get out of the studio.
And outside is the place where forms are constantly changing.
Myron finds everything beautiful in both urban and rural nature,
choosing his cityscape subject in terms of geometry. He discovers
many abstract elements while immersed in painting a landscape.
He most admires the tradition of the Ashcan painters, Glackens
and Luks.
Myron
Heise can usually finish a painting in one day. But sometimes
he will go back into it as many as three times, on location.
Then, he often finishes his paintings in his studio.
This artist often paints outside in the city at night where
he produced many of his "Night Paintings". He often
tries to find bright street lights to work under. These lights
distort true paint colors, so in that case, he resorts to working
with tones or values. He knows where his paints are on his palette,
so he can work with minimal information. When asked if he ever
saw himself as a painter of another language, he responded that
he had found his own personal language. He doesn't have to go
to all these other places. Been there - done that. All of the
Street Painters have evolved into their own. Several years ago,
when he saw the Corot show at a museum, he studied it intensely.
Later when he was on the street working, he found that he could
see through Corot's eyes. But he knew that he didn't want to
paint like Corot since he has his own way of seeing.
Ronald
DeNota studies the street for a long time before he chooses
his subject matter. His technique is so unusual in that he does
not use a palette. He paints directly from the tube, and squeezes
his paint on the brush as one would do with toothpaste when
brushing their teeth. He believes in using pure color from the
tube while mixing his paint directly on the canvas. He begins
by drawing with the paint. Then he takes the paint and works
it into the drawing. He works rapidly and knows exactly what
he is going to do. He does not duplicate reality. He keeps all
his tubes open at the same time while the paint cakes up. He
uses only one or two brushes: a round bristle to draw with,
and then another one to paint with. Ronnie says that he learns
from the other artists, and they all learn from each other.
Ken McIndoe
says that painting is an improvisation like a piece of jazz.
It flows out of oneself regardless of the subject at hand. He
feels that he is too close to his paintings. He has to wait
several years and then stop to look at them and even then it's
difficult. Sometimes he goes back to a spot where he painted
at one time and finds that he does not recognize it. He finds
himself changing as he paints. That's why he paints . . . to
change himself.
Ivan
Nunez takes more than a moment to interact with the city,
instead of being in his studio. He claims that "the city
is my studio". He says, as far as composition goes: you
work with it; there's always something there, even in the most
mundane locations, and if you look, you will find it. When he
arrives at the canvas, he captures the feeling and then attacks
the canvas
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