q)What is your name? a)John U. Abrahamson
q) Where do you live and work?
q) Where do you live and work?
a)San Francisco, California, USA
q)What is your creative process like?
q)What is your creative process like?
a)Late at night, I wrap myself around a feeling that I need to express then dive into the canvas most of time with little or no forethought as to the image itself. I start with a blank canvas and paint it black. Jet black. I then scratch in a base image that calls out from the void and wipe away the black until the image is revealed using the white of the base canvas as highlights.
q)What is your favorite medium?
q)What is your favorite medium?
a)Oils.
q)What is your current favorite subject?
q)What is your current favorite subject?
a)All the dark little corners of the psyche that no one wants to shed light on. Currently, my own mortality and finality of death.
q)How long does it take for you to finish a piece?
q)How long does it take for you to finish a piece?
a)Depends. Works on canvas or wood can take up to 3 or 4 weeks. Works on paper HAVE to be completed start to finish within 12 hours time, otherwise the paint dries and I can no longer manipulate the black paint.
q)What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?
q)What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?
a)Connecting and being represented by Les Barany www.baranyartists.com
q)Are there any contemporary artists that you love?
a)H.R. Giger, from my childhood on, Saturno Butto and Lucian Freud.
q)Can we buy your art anywhere?
q)Can we buy your art anywhere?
a)Yes, there are several galleries that carry my work but the best way is to contact Les Barany at lesbarany@aol.com
q)Anything that people should know about that we don’t?
q)Anything that people should know about that we don’t?
a)That my mother abandoned my sister and I when we were 5 and 7 years of age. I mention this because the work of mine that seems misogynistic refers to this alone.
q)What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
q)What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
a)Never be satisfied, never listen to anyone except your own intuition.
q)What inspires you to keep going when the work gets frustrating or tough?
a)The knowledge that the answer to whatever artistic quandry I may face is there and simply needs to be found. That and a shower. I do all my best thinking in the shower.
q)How do you describe your work to those who are unfamiliar with it?
q)How do you describe your work to those who are unfamiliar with it?
a)Dark, traditional, rough, figurative, sacreligious, sexualy charged, and not work for those that are easily offended.
q)What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry?
a)I found my voice DESPITE art school. My training was through examination of the masters works and then trying to figure out how to do the same thing.
q)Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
q)Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
a)5 realy good brushes and ivory black. Now adays a computer as well.
q)Who are your influences?
q)Who are your influences?
a)Motherwell, H.R. Giger, Francis Bacon, and the literary figure of Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost.
q)What inspires you to create?
q)What inspires you to create?
a)That welling up of emotions from within that if they did not have a canvas to explode upon would simply consume and ultimately kill me and I do not mean that in a metaphoric sense.
q)…your contacts…
a) jua@johnua.com
http://www.JohnUA.com
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