Blog - John Gerstner

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abstract figurative painting

Alter Egos

John Gerstner

This painting was included in the 2023 Shapes and Colors international exhibition and publication at Gallerium Art Gallery. The painting is acrylic on canvas, 51×48, painted in 2022.

Painting Fiction vs Painting Non-fiction

John Gerstner

Much of art can be considered non-fiction: a reflection of reality, captured with varying degrees of accuracy. The goal seems to be to put on canvas a replica of what the eye can see, though of course it is never exactly that. Even the Mona Lisa, celebrated as one of the most famous realist paintings, […]

camel and female in surreal landscape

The Artist as Mad Dervish

John Gerstner

I start with the flailing of a mad dermish. I smear, splash, scrape, wipe, dribble, draw … all the while blending colors and strokes until something says that’s enough. There’s something there. Let it be. Come back to it later. I do. Invariably I start to see shapes and patterns emerging through the chaos. Looking closely […]

woman gazing abstract

Facing the Blank Canvas

John Gerstner

For an artist, there’s nothing as daunting yet exciting as facing a blank canvas. The possibilities are infinite; and so are the risks. My approach is to simply make some brush strokes or marks or splashes of paint and see what that triggers. I try to keep the process an in-the-moment improv dance between eye, […]