I was blessed and cursed with the need to create art from birth. When I was young and learning to write, I would write my name backward and upside down because I saw the shapes of the letters, as opposed to the meaning of the letters. After school, when I was young, I would come home, not talk and just paint. My parents are in the arts, so they introduced me to galleries and artists at a young age, so naturally I fell in love with creating art. I continued to need to create art from my upside-down and backward words until a few months ago when my parents found ten cans of spray paint in my drawer. I gave up a while ago on fighting my innate desire to create art and have accepted my passion.
Francis Bacon is one of the most inspirational artists to me, especially when it comes to manipulating paint. Bacon’s ability to make it seem like his paintings are melting will forever make me gasp when I see them. His ability to abstract reality to an extreme extent but maintain the ability for the viewer to recognize the subject of what he has painted is what I strive to accomplish in my paintings. In my opinion, Bacon’s paintings seem more alive than any hyper-realistic paintings because his confident use of paint enables him to twist and contort the figures he portrays. Not only are his paintings alive, but they also assault the viewer with their profound violence and boldness. This is what I want to be able to have people experience when they see my paintings; I want my paintings to reach people whether it be in an assaulting, romantic, moving, or cheerful way.
I would love to study at the Art Students League because it has the most rigorous art classes in the city. This rigor is due to the expert teachers and the diverse ages of people who take the classes. My art teacher at the High School of Art and Design, Richard Weinstein, has been pushing me and my peers to take Art Students League classes. Being in an art class amongst professional artists, aspiring artists, and students will be an extremely inspiring experience! This will create a very energetic and inspirational space for me to be able to push myself with my artistic practices. I want to push myself with my technical use of paint and focus on the conceptual aspects of my art. I am very dedicated to my artistic practices and want to pursue them in any way possible. The Art Students League classes would be one of the best means for me to do so.
High School of Art and Design
Spielberger-Spanierman Scholarship-2022
Caucasian
