2020 Artist Statement
2020 was the first full year of my retirement after over 40 years of working with my family. We didn’t get to celebrate for long, we were struck by a world wide pandemic in March and locked tightly down with a ton of fear. Those first few months of the pandemic left me scrambling to secure all of my digital files and duplicate them on multiple drives. I felt like the 30 potential years ahead of me were now 90 days. I used every minute of the time to build my legacy and make sure my kids had something to dig into, their past.
Once the pandemic was in full swing and we had some semblance of order in the form of vaccines we bought a small 21-foot RV van. Together, my wife and I enjoyed the intimacy of living closely together for a week or so on the way to Colorado. Once there, we helped our son move into a new home. I stayed in Colorado, while my wife went home to deal with a flood at our primary residence. I did not expect to stay 5 months. During that time I built a music room with 20 original paintings that double as sound treatment; a 90-foot concrete retention wall; a few large oil paintings; and two ceramic pieces. It was a very pro ductive time. I love Colorado and the whole region. The van opened up many possibilities for my art.
Having a van is something I never experienced before. On that trip, I explored from Colorado to Utah and back through Wyoming. At a place called Bear Lake on the border of Utah and Idaho, I felt the exquisite peace of the cool mountain air, while I slept warmly, under the covers. This was the first time in years I was able to let go and just feel the joy of living. I was finally feeling retired.
It was there that I also analyzed the landscape, separated the colors and shapes, and found a new kind of painting I call Vector Painting. It is the perfect culmination of my style.
And the landscapes... What I ended up making was unexpected and remarkable. You will soon see. I started a whole new style of highly saturated, simplified land studies using a combination of Inktense Watercolor Pencils, Guache, and the iPad Pro with the iPencil.
A major painting was completed during the year called Bear Creek. It was completed on a cold night after a music festival at our campsite.
5
Kindly, Stephen Shooster aka Shoosty
DIGITAL ART FOR SALE ART GALLERY DIGITAL BOOKS T-SHIRTS PUZZLES SERVICES FASHION HERMAN’S BIOGRAPHY
JONNY WOODS
7JASON ON THE FERRY IN SWEDEN ART APPLIED TO METAL
BEAR CREEK MAJOR WORK OF 2020 WITH PAINTED FRAME 6’ 8” X 5’ ––OIL ON CANVAS
BEAR CREEK IS A MUSIC FESTIVAL HELD AT THE SAWNEE RIVER CAMPSITE IN LIVE OAK, FLORIDA.
IT IS PARTICULARLY INTRIGUING BECAUSE OF THE 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE LACK OF MUSIC FESTIVALS AND GATHERINGS.
THE PAINTING DEPICTS A CAMPFIRE PARTY LATE IN THE EVENING OF THE FESTIVAL. THE PARTY WENT ON UNTIL DAWN.
BEAR CREEK MUSIC FESTIVAL 2014
8
CAMPFIRE ATFTERPARTY
9BEAR CREEK OIL ON CANVAS 6 FT X 5 FT WITH PAINTED FRAME BEAR CREEK MUCI FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 13-16, 2014
GOLDEN RETRIEVER BUDDY Animals
LABRADOODLE
BUFFALO Source
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma
GERMAN SHEPHERD
WAYNE SKAGGS Portraits
JAIME SHOOSTER
THIS PAINTING IS THE FIRST PIECE THAT IS ESTABLISHING A NEW STYLE FOR THE ARTIST.
16 Landscapes
BEAR LAKE SKETCH
BEAR LAKE
ROADWAY REST STOP ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN ON THE WAY TO LOGAN FROM BEAR LAKE, UTAH
VECTOR
BONES
INKTENSE
WATRERCOLOR PENCILS ON MUSEAUM GRADE AQUABOARD.
LOOK CLOSELY AT THE BEAR PAW FORMED FROM THE LAKE AND THE IMPRINT ON THE LEFT. BEAR LAKE, UTAH
17BEAR LAKE
18 OLD FLORESTAPLEIN-AIRON SITE PAINTING DIGITAL VERSION 12” X 12” POST PAINTING
19GARDEN CITY UTAH
20 ROCK SPRINGS WATERCOLOR PLEIN-AIR ROCK SPRINGS ROCK SPRINGS , WYOMING BIKE TRAIL AUGUST 2020 21 ‘ RV’OLD SMOKEY’ E-BIKEROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING
MOUNTAINS ABSTRACTION
BASED ON PHOTO BY DANA GAGE
THE REFINMENT OF A NEW STYLE.
BOLD COLORS AND SMOOTH LINES.
23ROCK SPRINGS 2
MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN
UTAH FARM
SOURCE PHOTO
TREE FROM ROCK
TREE FROM ROCK PHOTO
THE CHIPMONK HOME
CHIPMONK HOME PHOTO
28
VEDAUWOO PHOTO DURING THE DAY
EARTH-BORN
VEDAUWOO BUFORD WYOMING
VEDAUWOO MEANS EARTH-BORN IN THE ARAPAHO INDIAN LANGUAGE
A STREAM OF BOULDERS
31 PAINTING: SHOOSTY POEM : TOHRU ISHIZUKA TRANSCRIPTION: IMAGINE THERE WILL BE COLORS THE COLORS WILL DISAPPEAR IN A DREAM THAT SLEEPS BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.
A BOX CANYON IS A TRAP WITH THREE SIDES. IT CAN BE THOUGH OF AS A NATURAL CORRAL.
32 VEDAUWOO BOX CANYON
ACTIVATING THE WATERCOLOR PENCILS
STEPHEN SHOOSTER AKA SHOOSTY
TREK E-BIKE LOADED WITH PAINTING MATERIALS
CURT GOWDY STATE PARK LOGO
WATERCOLOR
VEDAUWOO BUFORD WYOMING AFFINITY DESIGNER IPAD PRO
BOULDERS
34 VEEDAWUO BUFORD WYOMING SKETCH V1
35SKETCH V2 VEEDAWUO BUFORD WYOMING
THE BURNING TREE
DURING THE FALL THE ARTIST WAS LOOKING FOR A TREE THAT WAS TURNING RED. TURNS OUT THEY ARE RARE IN COLORADO. THE ASPENS TURN YELLOW, SO, HE IMPROVISED.
VEDAUWOO BOX CANYON, BUFORD, WYOMING
LONE TREE
BALANCING BOULDER
39THE CHIPMONK’S CASTLE VEDAUWOO BUFORD, WYOMING BALANCED ROCK
40 PHOTO SYBILLE RANGE SYBILE
RANGE, WYOMING
VEDAUWOO AT NIGHT V2
MOUNTAIN-SCAPE
BY SHOOSTY
45SHOOSTY PORTRAIT
OLD WEST PHOTO BY EMMA’S CHEYANNE WYOMING
POST
PHOTO
MANIPULATION
VEDAUWOO CANYON GARDEN OF THE GODS SEE IF YOU CAN FIND THE AMORPHIC IMAGES: 1. INDIAN HEADS 2. BEAR 3. WOLF
A CHORUS OF TREES
MEDICINE OF MEDICINE BOW
BOW
FOREST, WYOMING
THE
MEDICINE
NATIONAL
MODEL: JONNI MARIE WILTSE
SOURCE
PHOTO: DANA GAGE
THE ROAD
THE TREES
53
FIRST SKETCH
DREAMING ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN
SOURCE
DREAMING ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN
56 AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
57MOUNTAIN STREAM
SOURCE PHOTO
58 DEAD TREE SKETCHES
PRIMORDIAL SEA, WAS CONCEIVED DURING A LIVE PAINTING SESSION AT THE B-GREAT, 2020, END OF YEAR CONCERT HELD IN MARGATE, FLORIDA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. THE STAGE WAS OUTDOORS. THE PATRONS REMAINED IN THEIR CARS LISTENING TO FM RADIO. THE SHOW WAS BROADCAST LOCALLY. THE ARTIST PAINTED WHILE THE STAGE LIGHTS FLASHED MULTIPLE COLORS. THOSE LIGHTS MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE THE COLORS DURING THE EVENT. THE PAINTING WAS AWARDED TO PATRICIA GULATI AND NOAH CONTI OF LIGHTHOUSE POINT, FL. THE PAINTING WAS COMPLETED AFTER THE SHOW IN THE ARTISTS STUDIO. THE COMPOSITION IS ORGANIC. A BLUE SEA WITH A SILVER HORI-
ZON CONTAINS SHAPES RANGING FROM PINK TO GREEN WITH SOME PURPLE AND YELLOW HUES. OVALS ARE USED INTENTIONALLY, SOME WITH CAREFULLY PAINTED DOUBLE LINES. THESE SHAPES COME FROM THE ARTIST’S EXTENSIVE FAMILIARITY WITH NORTHWEST INDIGENOUS ART. BECAUSE THE SHAPES LACK THE FIGURATIVE NATURE OF NW INDIAN ART THEY INSTEAD REPRESENT SOMETHING MORE BASIC, SOMETHING PRIMORDIAL. BECAUSE THE PAINTING WAS CONCEIVED AT NIGHT, THE SKY IS PITCH BLACK WITH STYLIZED CLOUDS AND STARS TO GIVE THE VIEWER PERSPECTIVE AND SCALE.
59THE PRIMORDIAL SEA
Flowers
SUNFLOWER IN SPACE
62 ARTEMUS AND APOLLO Studies
63ARTEMUS HOLDING THE REIGNS OF THE PEGASOI DRIVEN BY APOLLO
THE CONCEPT IS TO BE ABLE TO SWITCH THIS IMAGE TO A BLACK AND WHITE IMAGE WHILE THE SHAPES DISAPPEAR. IT WORKS ON THE COMPUTER BUT NOT ON A PRINTER.
64 COLOR THEORY
THIS IMAGE SHOW THE FAILURE OF THE CONCEPT. IF IT WORKED YOU WOULD SIMPLY SEE A GREY IMAGE.
66 FOSSIL BIRD FOSSIL BIRD
67 PLATYPUS FOSSIL BATFOSSIL BOBCAT FOSSIL BIRD
68 FOSSIL LIZARD S FOSSIL FISH FOSSIL LIZARD
FOSSIL TURTLE
DINOSAUR VALLEY
OKLAHOMA INSPIRED
73HAND-BUILT CERAMIC WITH TELEPHONE WIRE AURORA 1 Ceramics
Music Room
SHOOSTY DESIGN, CREATED AN ACOUSTICALLY-SEALED, ARTISTICALLY CREATED, MUSIC ROOM. IT INCLUDES RESILIENT CHANNEL WALLS AND CEILING, AREA RUG, SOUND DEFLECTION PANELS, AND TWO TYPES OF SOUND ABSORBTION PANELS, ONE FOR TREBLE AND MID-TONES AND THE OTHER FOR BASS. ONCE COMPLETED A SET OF PAINTINGS WAS ALSO CREATED BASED ON THE RESULTS.
RESILIENT CHANNEL CREATES A SOUND BARRIER AROUND A SPACE. THE CHANNEL ALLOWS THE DRYWALL TO FLOAT OVER THE SURFACE. MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR SOUND TO ESCAPE.
COMPLETED EXAMPLES OF THE FRAMED ILLUSTRATION
74 The AURORA
75WOOD PANEL 1
MUSIC DISTRIBUTION PANELS MADE OF ANGLED WOOD REFLECT SOUND ALL OVER THE INTERIOR TO BREAK UP THE SOUND.
THE SOUND IS THEN CAPTURED BY ABSORBION PANELS THAT ARE COVERED WITH ART WORK. THERE ARE TWO TYPES. ONE FOR TREBLE AND MID-RANGE AND THE OTHER FOR BASS.
76 WOOD PANEL 2
77MDP-V2
78 WOOD PANEL 5
79 MDP-V5
80 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION WOOD PANELS
81MDP DIGITAL ILLUSTRATIONS
COMPLETED MUSIC ROOM
COMPLETED MUSIC ROOM
THE RED WALL IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF JAIME’S HOME.
SHOOSTY PAINTED THE FRAME OF THE WINDOW YELLOW AND THE METAL STAIRWAY A COMBINATION OF YELLOW AND GREEN.
A PAIR OF 4 FT. BY 4 FT. PAINTINGS REPRESENT DAY AND NIGHT.
IN THE CENTER IS A BESPOKEN CERMAIC. ALL OF THESE PIECES WERE CREATED IN AURORA, COLORADO, SUMMER 2020.
THE RED WALL
RED WALL WITH TWO OIL PAINTINGS AND CERAMIC SCULTURE
STAND-UP DESK, WURF BOARD, WACOM CINTIQ, PC MY STUDIO
UF COLLEGE OF ARTS COUNCIL CONVENED IN JANUARY TO DISCUSS THE
HIRING
AND THE
META-STRATEGY.
STEPHEN SHOOSTER AKA SHOOSTY
FROM THE
90
UNIVERSTIY-WIDE ‘FACULTY 500,’
INITIATIVE
COLLEGE’S NEW
3RD
RIGHT Arts Council UF ARTS COUNCIL GROUP PHOTO
91 Shoosty 2020 The Catalog Catalog Raisonné of Stephen Shooster aka Shoosty Copyright 2021 Shooster Publishing. All Rights Reserved www.shoostyandco.com www.shoosty.com 441 South State Road 7, Suite 11 Margate, Florida 33068
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