FANTASY AND MEMORY
JANUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 12, 2011

ARTIST STATEMENT
I have been an artist most of my life and watercolor has been my preferred medium. The subject matter may change, but the fascination with how the water mixes with pigment to make beautiful color combinations has always been a major draw for me.

At first I found myself making watercolor paintings that reflected the more traditional approach, which was to use a technique called wet on wet or dry brush. My first paintings were done as traditional realism.

Then the structure, form, volume and the light and shadows so prevalent in Southern California caught my eye and I began to do washes that had a more subtle color transition than I had previously done.  My work became more graphic and cartoon-like instead of realistic.

I learned the technical characteristics of watercolor and I know what will happen as I apply pigment. Using my intuition combined with a range of subjects has made it possible for me to explore, in a somewhat whimsical manner, a variety of worlds that are slightly surreal, humorous or disastrous and always colorful.

I have an endless fascination with things, whether they are trains and trolleys, architecture and commercialism, earthquakes and floods or visual puns. Making my own toys as a child and constructing cities out of cardboard so that I could gleefully witness the destruction by floods or earthquakes, (all caused by me) of all that I had painstakingly built, developed a sort of macabre approach to life.  I think I am always waiting for the next trembler or ambulance.

Freeway love began when my father introduced me to the ribbon-cutting ceremonies for yet another “super” highway that was empty, open and presented endless opportunities for traveling to that mysterious place just over the hill.

My interest in diners and cafes and other food establishments comes from living and eating in Los Angeles where there is a new ethnic experience around every corner.

I have a strong inclination to look at life with a slightly demented humor, which is my usual approach to everything.  I plan to continue this journey and my relationship with watercolor for the rest of my life.

(Life partners for thirty years, Art Curtis and Shelley Adler have achieved the rare ability to mentor and critique each other as artists, while maintaining and continuing to develop their own personal styles despite working and living in the same space.)

BIO
b. Glendale, CA October 4, 1946

His first public mural, painted when he was about 5 years old, was on his bedroom wall executed with his older sister’s lipstick and crayons. Unfortunately we do not have a record of this image, which remained in place for over a year in spite of his sister’s protests.

He attended grammar school, junior high and high school in Highland Park, a small Northeast suburb of Los Angeles. His watercolor career started in grammar school when he won 1^st place in a watercolor competition celebrating Arbor Day when he was in the 5^th grade.

In 1964 Curtis entered East Los Angeles Junior College where he majored in Graphic Design under the tutelage of Donald Chipperfield.

In 1968 Curtis joined the Air Force and after two years as a civil engineer was sent to Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio where he was trained as a commercial illustrator. He became the Art Director and Bomb Wing Illustrator for SAC (Strategic Air Command) 319th Bomb Wing, Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. While stationed in Grand Forks, N. D. he also became the set designer for the North Dakota Ballet Co., and he showed paintings in a local gallery/book store.

In 1972 after leaving the service, Curtis returned to Los Angeles and entered California State University, Long Beach Art Department illustration program with a minor in Art History. He graduated in 1975 with a BFA in Illustration but stayed on at CSULB to pursue an MFA in Fine Art for an additional 2 years, however he never had his master’s show.

From 1979 to 1985 Curtis worked as a graphic designer/illustrator with his partner, Shelley Adler. He continued to pursue his love of fine art watercolor painting when the graphic design business they operated closed. He painted and showed in galleries until 1997 at which time he changed careers for a six-year stint in marketing and sales. By 1998 Curtis had stopped showing his work in public, but continued to take a few commissions.

In 2003, Curtis opened a small art business called Architectural, Landscape & Garden Art. He marketed his drawing and watercolor skills, combined with his botanical knowledge to offer Landscape Designers and Landscape Architects hand drawn and/or watercolor images (appearing three dimensional) of completed plant specific landscape designs. This was a valuable asset for them, whenever clients were not able to visualize from a two- dimensional site plan. Business was slow at first, but using his sales and marketing skills with this limited cliental, Curtis has created a niche service that has slowly grown and attracted many skilled designers and architects who use his creative services. This landscape art service is currently in its 7^th year of existence.

In 2010, Liz Gordon offered Curtis a show at her gallery and a way to return to the world of fine art. The majority of the work shown at this Liz’s Loft show was done prior to Curtis’ work as a landscape artist. It is the result of their combined efforts and her invitation for Art to show two decades of imagination and fantasy in watercolor.