2018 Artist Statement
The biggest change in 2018 for my art was the inclusion of the iPad Pro and the iPencil, with an app called ArtRage. I also had marked advancements in my live drawings of mu sicians that often surprised me. And to round things out I completed a few oil paintings including a large masterwork called, ‘Frank and d’Beans.’
I had plenty of new experiences with lots of travel. I visit ed Pai, Thailand; Kathmandu, Nepal, a place beyond time; Edinburgh, Scotland, where I love visiting the local snugs; small bars where locals play acoustic music; Boulder, Colora do; Marquette, Michigan; Gainesville, Florida; All this, and I was still working full-time!
Each of these places inspired the art you will find within these pages. Of note is my trip to Kathmandu, Nepal, and the neighboring world heritage site called Bhaktapur. We stayed inside the world heritage site among the temples jux taposed with modern motorbikes and a few stores.
The flight was uneventful, however once on the ground, I saw how disorganized this place is. The ATM did not work and we needed money to hire a taxi. That airport is known as one of the most dangerous in the world. It is located in a mountain valley surrounded by tall peaks. It is very close to the highest point on earth, Mount Everest.
We were picked up by a fellow named Dil Bahadur Chhetri. He brought us large necklaces of orange flowers making us feel very special. Dil is short in stature but big in demeanor. He is the perfect mix of local, entrepreneurial, and interna tional. Notable is that Dil has climbed Mount Everest. None of us knew then that a worldwide pandemic was coming and he would not survive. He was far too young to pass away.
2018 Notable Artworks:
Frank and d’Beans, 6 feet by 6.5 feet, oil on canvas, with a matching frame is a masterwork of my style. It took one year to make. The colors and composition are breathtaking. I used what I call a flat brush technique. I tried to paint every thing flat to give myself the freedom to make compositional changes with impunity. By keeping things flat I can paint directly over an area with a new color giving me the most freedom of composition.
Dattatreya Temple - My favorite temple in The World Heritage site of Bhaktapur, Nepal is the Dattatreya. We first stumbled upon it while walking around at night hearing chanting with music within. The music was coming from a hand-pumped harmonium organ. We stepped under the covered porch where the people were playing as if we were walking through a portal into another dimension. The lo cals welcomed us with smiles as they continued to sing and chant. We did our best to follow along.
I was mesmerized the entire time I was in Bhaktapur with this temple and did many drawings of it. The Hindus have many Gods, which in and of itself is fascinating. Coming from the West we are constantly reminded there is only one God. I found it refreshing to see an alternative approach and as an artist, the concept brings up profound possibili ties. Dattatreya is a composite deity that personifies three Gods; Trimurti of Brahma; Vishnu; and Shiva. She is seen as a three-headed God. Nowhere at this location will you find a sculpture or image of Dattatreya. Instead, each of the three Gods is portrayed. Seeing them together is said to evoke Dattatreyya in the worshippers.
Note- I learned that the Hindus do not worship idols. In stead, they use them as a reminder of their Gods. It bothered me to see the sculptures until I learned this fact.
In the front of the Dattatreya temple are symbols of Lord Vishnu (three-pointed trident), garuda (a monk God saying Namaste to the temple), a conch shell (symbol of the sacred OM sound), and chakra (a circle representing the universe and the destruction of karmic bonds, denoting salvation).
I learned this temple was built from a single tree in the year 1470 as a resting place for Shiva ascetics. Later, in the 1800’s it was modified to recognize Dattatreya. The building is made of a central set of bricks housing a small sculpture of a God with a doorway for the God to see the world. A porch surrounds the bricks which are protected by wood en slats giving the overall appearance of the building a solid shape. Up close you realize that the slats have large gaps. The porch is not protected from the elements. If you are inside the porch these slats give scant protection from the wind and cold. This is where the people were chanting.
At night there is one more thing that adds to the mysticism of the temple, it is guarded by goats.
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Thailand
Pai Village is based on the artist’s first perspective of Pai Thailand. Sitting on a balcony after days of travel to reach this destination, still with his head in the clouds, the artist pondered the banana tree as highlighted against the dry rice fields before the next planting and the distant mountain with the gigantic white budda sitting on one of the peaks. Later, he discovered the music scene downtown and captured some of the artists playing. Merging these two ideas he came up with a Chagall-inspired piece called Pai, Village.
7Pai Village
Frank and d’Beans is painting based on a lo cal band from Marquette, Michigan. The band played at the Blackrocks bar when the artist happened to be in town. Blackrocks is bar converted from a home. the artist perched himself on a stairwell to capture the perspective.
It is A playful scene, the band members are wearing oversize glasses. A unicorn and sail fish mask decorate the back wall. The drummer
Oil on Canvas, 6.5’ x 5’ with a matching frame
smashes the symbols with color waves result ing. The band is focused, in the middle of a set. Colors surround the muscians like sound waves.. A few beer stiens decorate the ceiling.
A major painting, one year in production, Frank and d’Beans also sports a matching frame.
in 2020, Blackrocks was redesigned and a space was made for a copy of this painting.
8 Frank and and d’Beans
I was drawing landscapes then I went to an event with my son and his friends playing mu sic. I decided to draw directly on top of the land scape sketch and then integrate the two.
The painted version was made with the iPad Pro using the same concept and photo refer ences.
9Gypsy Tears
Dedicated to Jack Torres
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Jason Shooster, Herbie Hancok & George Tandy
Three Amigos
Cassidy Painting Shells
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Painting Carly Shells
Chanting Hanuman Ghat, Bhaktapur, Nepar. - Around the corner form the funer al pyre is a covered space large enough to fit 20 comfortmably with oriental rugs, and pillows for sitting. Chillum smoke from fills the space as the guests chant and and play music. The energy is profound, everyone is joyful. One guest walked a pilgramige to get here from India. Center, with guitar, is Jason Shooster, the artist’s son. Behind him a mural on the wall fea tured a swan with a lotus flow. It seems fit ting to add this element of the connection with nature and mythology.
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Bhaktapur, Nepal, Hanuman Ghat, Nepal
Chanting at Hanuman Ghat
13Once in a Blue Blood a Moon
14 Baptiste
15The Black House of Music Oil on Canvas Thialand
Proud Camden Camden, UK
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Laura Misch
Jam
17 Toe
The Funky Buddah
Jack Edmondson
19John Taney and Band
20 Liddy Clark album cover
21Abstract Muscians noir
22 The Haunt digital ink
23Jorge Garcia digital ink
24 Orchestra
26 Rasta Guitar ink on paper
27Cassidy at Work digital ink
An Evening of Rythm
Boogie Lou’s House of Music, Boulder, Colorado ink on paper
Guitar and Mountains
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Kevin Gore and Friend ink on paper ink on paper
30 The Wallens digital ink
32 Jason in Pai with Friends
33Battle of Musicians oil paint
Jorge Garcia - Crossover 1 Jorge Garcia - Crossover 2
35Steve Pomeranz
36 George Tandy Band
37Cubist Dancing
38 Dorothy in Red digital ink Dorothy Schluger-Shooster, Mom
Allen Schluger
Dedicated to Barbara Conover digital ink
The Sadhus digital ink
41Shoosty Self Portrait
photo by George Tandy
42 Edwin Forrest Ward
43Father’s Day
Stephen (Shoosty), Cassidy, and Trey with painted faces
44 Old World Lizards DIGITAL INK
45Horse and Carriage DIGITAL INK
46 The Lovers
Elephants
47Portrait of an Elephant
48 Monarch Catapillar
Beatle
Painted Beatle
49Egyptian Scarab
ink on paper
The Pork Cafe
ink on paper
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The Pork Cafe
The Street One digital ink
The Street Two digital
colored ink
The Street Three digital colored ink
14” x 19” Ink on Watercolor paper processed through digital ink for coloration
Bhaktapur, Nepa, World Heritage Site. The above painting took about a week using the iPad Pro and many photos. I find endless facination in this temple. It has three steeles representing multiple gods.
Temple Bahktapur, Nepal
54 Buddah
Buddah Digital Air Brush
Dattareya Temple Bhaktapur, Nepal, 2018
Dattatreya Temple at Night
The Dattatreya Temple, Bhaktapur, Nepar. A world heritage site, in 2017 a couple of years after a devastating earth quake.
The story of Dattareya is repleate with three of the greatest gods of Hinduism. There symbols reside on steeles in front of the temple. Short, but majestic, this is a working temple were people go to be blessed. The the sculpture of a god and its assistent during the day are guard ed by live rams and stone guardians at night. I found channting just beyond the lattice wall and was invited in to chant.
It was thrilling and raw. The floor was a combination of stone work and yellow clay. Dust is kicked up by motorbikes as they pass. Nearby buildings are be ing held up by giant poles due to earth quake damage. Within the compound of The World Heritage site are artisans as if caught in a time warp, I saw clay pots be ing thrown on a large stone hand-turned wheel, wood carving with hand tools and wooden hammers, and Tanka painting, stylized and repeated images, each store filled with painters busily applying there craft.
Temple
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Dattatreya Temple
Bahktapur, Nepal
56 Lutzk Synogogue Jewish Ukraine
57 Old World Wedding Procession
Nowy Sanz, Poland, Halberstamm Wedding from a photo circa 1935 photo by Ze’ev Aleksandrowicz
Jewish Poland
Derison of Kathmandu
Fantasy landscape Nepal
Derision of Kathmandu
Gouch on wood fantasy landscape Nepal
St. James
59Gaurdian of Kathmandu
Ganesh in Kathmandu
Fantasy
landscape Nepal
colored
ink Nepal
Gryphon
60 Ian MacLeod
DumGoyne, Scotland Glencoyne Distillary
Dead River Coffee - Marquette, Michigan. In the The Dead River section of the city, a place where an altercation took place with local natives resulted in the deaths of many. In retribution they took the lives the purpetrators on a small stream that was named after the event.
Completed in a rube Goldberg ef fect the coffee roaster, heart of the small coffee shop, has hanging dead flowers hanging from the ceil ing, and lots of moving parts.
61Dead River Coffee
14” x 19” The Collection of Lynn Lundquist Watercolor Marquette, Michigan
62 Light Bulbs and Vacuum Tubes digital Ink electronics
63Vacuum Tube in Radio digital Ink electronics
Global Response, Oil Sketch. Completed while standing on a ladder as a pastel sketch and then converted into an oil painting by scrubbing the pastel with Galkyd medium.
64 Call Center
Oil Paint 16” x 20” Signature
Collection of Natalie Alanna
By, Jessica Leuchter and Shoosty
Colored Pencil Flowers
65Fractal Flower
The
8.5” x 12”
66 Cassidy Holding a Guitar
construction paper elmer’s glue
67Warrior Drawing construction paper elmer’s glue Warrior
Sculpture
68 Chinese Vases
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70 Rock Stars
Shoosty 2020
The Catalog Catalog Raisonné of Stephen Shooster aka Shoosty Copyright 2021 Shooster Publishing. All Rights Reserved
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