Gino Hollander - Artistic Style

Artistic Style

Hollander's work is reflective of his ethos; he makes art because he must, and while he is aware of the art world, it's only vaguely so. His work is honest and emotional; he paints for himself. He has no wish to engage in a dialogue with the viewer. It is for him to paint, for the viewer to view. He refuses to title his paintings. He tells no stories. To him, “there is nothing verbal about a canvas. A painting is simply one way to express a feeling and feelings can only be made less if they are talked to death."

His portraits are purposely poised on the far edge of nothingness, faces left blank or at best enigmatic. His figures are abstracted and his abstracts disturbingly figurative. He'll paint through the day and on into the night, each canvas a different mood. From stark black and white to a splash of brilliant colors and on to a subtle moody sepia, then back to a black and white, gentle this time. He is a complex man and his canvasses reinforce this complexity in the very simplicity of their form and content.

"I chose painting for the immediacy of the moment the medium can allow – its immediacy of expression. I find my deepest moments are of feeling and that is what I strive for in my painting. The art of painting provides me with a constant mirror of my being – both successes and failures, the good moments and bad. I prefer to paint it all as it comes. Painting takes on a rhythm like breathing: loose, tight, whatever. Living and painting become one. I believe in the universality of art’s function, a heritage of involvement of everyone – the youngest to the oldest, the artist, the viewer. A subliminal communication of feelings about the human condition. My paintings are expressly directed to evoke an emotional reaction from the viewer." - Gino Hollander, 2010.