Traditional Art Legends Award: denis-peterson

There are always a few that stand above the crowd, that have not only exceptional skill in they artwork, and immense talent, but also manage to move many, to open their eyes, touch their soul, and try and succeed to change the world at least for the little bit.  A legend is someone to whom we look up to, who accomplishes something special, by their actions, that uses their skills and their time to encourage others, to help others, that inspire generations of new artists, as well as art appreciators.

Few weeks ago we have decided to start looking for people that inspire, and that move, and have decided that those people need to be commended for their actions, for their kindness, and for them taking time to be teachers, mentors and inspiration to those around them. We have decided that those people need special place, special award called "Traditional Art Legends"

I am very pleased to announce that a first winner of the Traditional Art Legends award is going to who is exceptional artist, with skill and talent that is unmeasurable, who has taken his gifts to try to change this world, by bringing to surface things world would like to forget such as poverty, genocide and homelessness. Denis has taken also incredible amount of time to provide amazing advice to many of deviants, as well to answer all comments and questions by everyone, as well as frequent features of extraordinary artists he stumbled upon. He is one of first people to jump to defence of other traditional deviants when something goes wrong, and its no wonder that everyone calls him Sir Denis, not just Denis, because in our hearts he is our knight in shining armour.

Because of his actions he has been awarded 1 year subscription and 1 year print account sub.

I had this privilege, as well as many did to not only enjoy his work on DeviantArt but also to do an interview with him, so please read further:

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born at the age of nine months in NYC, later moving to California, then back.  Janet and I have six wonderful clones making their indelible marks on life. All have intense artistic talent; one does it fulltime professionally.

I worked as an artist during art school and for the next 20+ years.  I always maintained a painting studio, continually exhibiting in galleries, schools and one or two public museums.  I taught art in universities, finding scant few serious artists among the many presumably wanting very much to be thought of as such.  

I broke away from the art field for about 20 years, following another path that allowed me to ultimately help a lot of people in need.  Returning several years ago, I determined to use my photorealistic paintings to make a difference in the way people view the world and how they can change the world in a positive way.  

How did you get started with art?

While still in art school, I began doing commercial illustrations, cartooning, and lettering.  I also did art restoration for museums and galleries during that time, working on 16th and 17th century Flemish paintings.  My first full-time studio art job was doing all the graphics for Exxon and their 149 affiliate companies.  It was a high pressure demand position where artwork had to be quickly and perfectly produced within unreasonable deadlines.  I still utilize many of those learned board techniques in my paintings to this day.

Can you tell us a bit about your artwork?  What do you aim to achieve through your art?  Why is the socio-political commentary important in your art?

I work primarily in thematic series.  Many of my images are planned a year or so in advance.  I utilize airbrushed acrylics in my work, recently combining traditional brushes.  I regularly incorporate many types of paints and other media in my work to achieve appealing surfaces.  Lately, I have been experimenting with a urethane paint line that a paint manufacturer has asked me to try.  

I attempt to make every piece a legitimate extension of art history, always moving forward through experimentation and development of something that hasn't been tried before, or if it has, in doing it in some different way.  I rarely repeat the same technique utilized in a previous piece, always looking to find a better way of expression.

By using my own photographs, my art works on one level as a legitimate form of photojournalism; recording essential and indisputable scenes and situations, rather than imagined or fictitious ones, since part of the visual dynamic is essentially reproducing a photographic sense of reality.  A convincing illusion primarily captures one's attention by "looking just like a photo".  It is important that the paintings are creations of beauty, and perceived as such; but that is only leaving the viewer at the starting gate. If s/he walks away merely thinking that the painting is beautiful, then I have not succeeded in the least.  Staged visual departures from the original photo are introduced into the work through a carefully crafted subliminal language that leads the viewer to an entirely new viewpoint.  

Anyone can make a beautiful painting, but to me it is not art until that work begins to radically affect the thinking of the viewer.    

All art is socio-political commentary in one form or another.  Not unlike music, it has its own language and at times much of it seems to have little or no bearing on the world around us until artists undertake the task of enlightening others to the hyperreality that pervades our lives on so many levels.

Therefore, having an opportunity to introduce positive and healing energy into a totally disruptive and negatively charged world is the highest honor any of us could ever ask for.  

What is driving you towards hyperrealism?

I determined to take Photorealism another step forward beyond what I was doing with it in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  I have termend my work Hyperrealism, primarily based on Baudrillard's provocative writings wherein hyperreality was essentially its own simulation of reality (which in itself is not as we perceive it to be in the first place.)  

I began talking with other many other artists about this, how one could virtually go beyond the photograph, while at the same time using its principal features to appear photograph-like.  Therefore, multiple perspectives, varied depths of field, overlapping color ranges, etc. all could be used to emphasize a piece as a photo-based painting while actually appearing to be an altered state of reality itself.  

This has since been picked up by a number of art historians, art scholars and art dealers, who sometimes suggest that the term has been used interchangeably with photorealism since the introduction of that school of art.  This may be true; however, the distinctions are now farther apart and any previous similarities are far less valid, in my humble opinion.  

Although hyperrealism is effectively an outgrowth of photorealism, I have tried to expand its framework by developing a more heightened sense of reality to promote change in a meaningful way.  

A lot of people say with the hyperrealist paintings why not take photos instead.  What do you have to tell them?  How does your work depart from reproductions of photos?

Painters have been using some form of the camera since the early renaissance, i.e. the cameras obscura and lucida to achieve an ordered view of realism.  And if the modern digital camera had existed during the Renaissance, it certainly would not have replaced the need for the next 500 years of painting.  

Frankly, I don't think the camera is actually capable of creating a hyperreal image without editing, i.e. Photoshop.  Perhaps that is because I do not see hyperrealism as a mere imitation of photography, but a meaningful expansion of it; since a photograph is only an imitation of reality.  It is not reality, or anything remotely close to it.  It is just a mechanical reproduction of it…and a fairly rudimentary one at that.  Compare photography to film or to holography and one quickly will recognize its deficiencies and limitations.  

It is actually those deficiencies and limitations that I can exploit through hyperrealism.  So what I paint is not "like a photograph"…more so, "it is like reality".  Hyperrealism is the art of illusion.  As its own simulacrum it simulates reality so closely that one is optically, and intellectually, convinced that the altered perception is considerably closer to the truth than anything (of that image) s/he has ever previously considered.  That does not happen with any photography that I have ever seen or know of, including my own.

A lot of people on DA followed you on you finding out about your subject in "Halfway to the Stars" denis-peterson.deviantart.com/… can you tell us a bit more and tell us the story? Why is this story important to you?

When I first chose to paint her, it was following a story series printed by the LA Times relating to the escalating gang violence, police corruption and abject poverty in Haiti.  The subject had lost her entire family to gang violence and was deathly ill at the time the photograph was taken.  I determined to raise money by selling the painting and to contribute the proceeds to her in order to help recover some semblance of reasonable recovery.  I contacted the international editor and attained the names of American volunteers working in Haiti for human rights who I spoke with to identify her for  coordinated assistance.  In the meantime, a social worker seeing my show asked if he could help facilitate getting her to the US through an associated help organization who I later contacted.  All my efforts failed.  

I persisted and met with Wyclef Jean's manager, hoping to get his support as well, which I did.  Yet still nothing happened.  Later, a Haitian visited my home and upon seeing the painting, paused in stunned silence.  He knew her! Later, I learned from him that she was transferred to Florida somehow and was living comfortably, although I have no way of verifying his report.

Which of your works are your favorite and why?

Toothbrush and a Comb :thumb59934256: actually tops my list of six.  Even though it wasn't all that popular here, it is one of the most proficiently painted of my works, and something if, had I not painted it, would be a favorite of mine in any regard.  The lighting and color as it describes the subtle changes in texture, particularly in a larger than life piece, are actually mesmerizing.  And I do not say that about any other of my works with the possible exceptions of my other favorites (said while laughing).   

Not Again :thumb38437756: was done in a matter of hours, with everything falling into place.  The depth of field contrasting the blurred background with her detailed jean top, made the image quite appealing, especially in light of how her eyes came out (something that I did without looking back at the photo, but just holding my breath and hoping for the best!)  

Vortex http:// was an epic piece, in that the wall alone was a feat beyond anything I had ever tried to accomplish.  When I got to the windowed reflections in front of and behind the young woman, I didn't stop painting until it was complete, then stepped back and practically fell down in utter delight!  The perfect balance between his apparent vulnerability and her evident sense of confidence was virtually unexpected.

Hard Luck and Trouble :thumb37810594: was a tough little piece, and I doubt I could ever do another one as finely tuned as this one was.  It tested every color principle I am aware of, and allowed me to create a sense of order in chaos.  

Don't Shed No Tears :thumb37764252: has to stand as my most well know face.  It was a genocide piece that brought much attention to Darfur, allowing me to construct the hyperreality of war, human suffering, and indefatigable inner strength all in one painting.  

Dust to Dust :thumb38437572: was the first piece I painted without the depth of emotion and detail found in my genocide works, but was a new means of bringing the viewer directly into a scene in a physical sense.  When on display, I would continually hear people saying that they felt they could touch him (and then physically would) which I found perplexing, particularly where in actual reality, no one would ever do that.

Who are your influences and why?

My grandfather was a lifetime master painter who at one point had fifty painters in his atelier doing murals and frescos throughout Europe and later in the U.S.  As a young artist, he painted with many famous personalities while living in Paris and Marseilles, often sharing stories and methods as he would patiently show me the "real way" it was done by painters such as Breton, Monet, Manet, Lepage, Gerome and others.  

In art school I had several art professors who were contemporary abstract expressionists in close working friendships with DeKooning, Rauschenberg and others.  They taught me the true underpinnings of expressive color, raw surface energy and balanced composition through their passionate love of painting.  Those highly skilled teachings remain with me to this day, as do their friendships.

What do you have to say to people that are just beginning their journey in art?

Don't copy printed photographs!  Draw as much as you can of things you see around you.  

Whether cartooning, ceramics, jewelry-making, or anything else, learn as much as you can studying good art close up.  Determine what makes certain art great and other art not. Then go after what you could only wish for with all the vigor and zeal in your being.  It will take years of hard work, lots of rejection and never giving up (patience).  And don't expect just because you can make something that looks great that it will jumpstart your career. That part of it is more about how you present yourself, communicate to others and negotiate on your own behalf.

Which are your favorite traditional pieces of artwork on Deviant Art and why?

Keeping it real, I have chosen artists whom I have met and become friends with, several of whose works I have actually seen up close.  

Anna :thumb51365857: an early hyperreal work by Simon is a wonderful exploration into the two sides of a human face, both from a psychological and aesthetic point of view.  He goes further into the split dynamic by effectively draining one side of its flesh color.  

Dress by Robbie is a striking and magnetic image that remains indelibly etched in the mind well after being viewed. Hauntingly dynamic.  

Fertility :thumb43554752: by Jason is a contemporary still-life reminiscent of great Dutch paintings by Jan van de Velde.  

Brief Encounter by Ruth is a captivating pencil version of a period piece film clip, and done in an authentic genre.  

Robb's What Happened is a breathtaking egg tempera painting that that works as a extraordinarily convincing elusion of reality. Perfect depth of field and textural definition.  

Bryon did a superb job of foreshortening in his imposing figurative piece Sean

and Stevo's Waddle is a delightful depiction of an innocent living being painted from an unusual point of view.


Can you tell us about your typical workday?

I get up fairly early 7 AM and usually try to take care of any computer related issues (email, messages, and photo selections).  When done, I head for the studio, and go right to work, always with music on. I take short breaks throughout the day but quickly return to work, and this goes on usually until midnight.  I don't take phone calls, make art store runs, visit friends, etc. until certain times in between pieces.  

Sometimes I will spend a day stretching canvases and making cross braces or frames.  I like to save this kind of production work for days when I varnish, as the studio gets so filled with fumes, the only work I can feasibly perform is woodwork outdoors (even in freezing temperatures!)

On a typical workday, I attempt to lay down at least one glaze over an entire painting.  In more complex pieces, I will lay in a glaze or two in a section of the work, always trying to keep the composition balanced through color, lighting and shading.  When I feel that I have taken the piece visibly past a stage that it was earlier in the day, I reevaluate the direction headed and then move on to new colors, etc.

So, nothing exciting, just a lot of painting, but I do pace myself throughout the day.

Can you tell us about your approach to your artwork and your subjects?

I approach all my work as compositions, not as pictorial stories to be told.  Once I have gone through my photos, I select the ones I like the best and then edit them compositionally, changing proportions, scale, and the amount of a shot to keep in.  I try to work on the entire underpainting as one unit, working in layers (glazes) of colors to develop a translucency for lighting effects.  I work with the lightest or brightest colors first and end with the deepest ones last.  I therefore effectively "mix" my paint on the canvas.  

I see my artwork as a living organism, especially where there are human subjects involved.  I often attempt to spend time with them, to get a feel for their needs, their outlooks on life, etc.  I find that this is valuable time which allows me to introduce "unphotographed" elements that I look forward to inserting into the piece to create a new (hyper) reality.  

In order to do this, I must first identify a "falsity" in the photographed image, element(s) that can be changed both from an aesthetic and editorial point of view.  These are often extremely subtle, but add up to make a significant difference.  Many of these changes, though made on a conscious level, come from an unconscious recognition of another reality.  Underneath all my work, I seek to find a connection between the subject and the viewer which will create an irrevocable bond as a basis for change.  As an artist, I see my self and my work as that transitional bridge.

Where do you find inspiration for your art?

I often will see something ironic or that catches my eye which I make a mental note of.  Oftentimes it will develop into an idea for a series.  For example, when I was in NYC photographing the homeless, I took some random shots of the city for a future urban series, not fully realizing that I would later be drawn to the billboards in the photos as a main subject area.  Granted, on some subconscious level, I must have known it, but not until I began going through some of those shots several months later.  

Thanks for the interview.

I have also asked several deviants to tell me why they look up to Denis, and tell me a bit more about him and here is what they had to say

"Denis Peterson is an extraordinary man. Painting skill or talent is something that can be argued about, but there is a strong case to say that he could be" the most gifted/talented painter in the world", certainly at this time.

When he brought a painting to the UK recently, some people had to look at it from several angles to assure themselves that they were looking at a 2-dimensional plane, such was the hyperrealism of the piece. This gift alone makes him stand out as someone very special, but there is something even more special about him - and that is his genuine love of humanity - (and animals too!). Denis has travelled to some of the world's most devastated and dangerous places and forged lasting bonds with people in those places. The main body of his work consists of beautiful, moving paintings of genocide survivors around the world and the homeless of New York City. So, here is a man with an unbelievable talent who also has the humanity and courage to represent the most neglected yet deserving people of the world.

You might think that such a person - someone with an incredible talent and who involves himself in such pressing and important issues - would not have much time or inclination to bother with the hordes of people on dA who are understandably drawn to this charismatic and gifted person, but this is not the case. Denis never fails to amaze me with the way he responds to everyone who shows him a modicum of respect or politeness, and many who don't. There is no question that what he gives to the world as a whole and to dA specifically is all about love and I think it's way past time that dA in particular and the world as a whole showed him some love too.

I believe that he will become one of the world's most respected and valued artists - sooner or later - but lets make it sooner, here at least...!"

"I think that Denis is a natural born teacher too....he looks at other people's work constructively and makes comments that really lift you...he can analyze your work and put into words things you hadn't even realised yourself... The critique Denis offers is invaluable, not only can he spot exactly where things aren't quite right, but he'll go out of his way to assist you in correcting it if you ask him to, all without bruising your sensitive artist's soul.

These are all the ways in which Denis has helped me personally, he has also given me the confidence to move forward, to try new things and to believe that it's possible to take my work out into the world and show it off.

And last but not least....he's funny too! Which puts him way up there in my estimation.

I've been lucky to meet Denis personally, it's an event I have every intention of repeating. I've come to think of him as a friend and hope that my words can go some way to showing him how valuable he is to me."

"I got to meet Denis a couple of weeks ago when he visited London. What first struck me about meeting him is the manner in which he portrays and carries himself. As a person and an artist he has a kind of aura about him, when he speaks people listen because he has got interesting things to say regarding art and generally anything.

As an artist his paintings are phenomenal and he has definitely inspired myself and I'm sure lots and lots of artists. He isn't afraid to tackle issues that a lot of people would shy away from.

To sum Denis up would be a genuine and great all around guy."

"Having met up with Denis for about 4 hours in London I found him to be a real genuine bloke and I love him to bits!!!
His art work is absolutely superb....I very much love his African and homeless series both of which have extremely powerful messages which Denis captures in his works. I greatly admire him both as an artist and now as a friend.
On a lighter side....I was quite surprised when I dragged him into a pub...many of the US artists I have met have fallen by the wayside in respect of us Brits drinking habits. Many of the US guys would be on their first half whilst we would be on our sixth pint. Denis during our meeting kept up but he did drink the lager instead of the bitter or Guinness. Maybe get him on the harder stuff next time......eh??"

"Denis is not only a real asset to the traditional art community but he is an asset to deviantART as a whole in more ways than can be fully described here.

He is an incredible painter who (more often than not) uses his visual skills to give a voice to those who have been silenced, suffered injustices, or to those that have no voice of their own. His work is as aesthetically pleasing as it is political, as complex as it is simple, and on top of this it is also hugely personal - as art should be... Denis represents for me progression. His work is constantly evolving and finding new ways to communicate, which is a true reflection of the man himself.

What makes Denis an invaluable member of this community is not his undeniable skill and craftsmanship, but his inexhaustible enthusiasm for the people that share this community. He will impart his learnt knowledge of his craft unflinchingly to one and all, when so many would prefer to keep their techniques to themselves for fear of being outstripped by an other. He believes in sharing knowledge and has a healthy respect for his fellow artists - always finding time to respond to their messages and comments.

Knowing Denis (and now having had the great pleasure of meeting him in person) has, for me, been one of the great gifts of joining deviantART because he embodies the spirit of what it means to be a part of a community."

I would like to on behalf of Traditional Community to thank Sir Denis Peterson for all his efforts he has done to date, all the acts of kindness that made him stand tall above the crowd, and I would like to invite each and everyone of you to congratulate him on this award, as well as have look through his extraordinary body of work.

Thank you for well being you


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