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RUSSELL   D' ALESSIO

 

Paintings / Drawings / Graphics

 

Statement / Bio 

 

 

 

 

Statement

 

Moving Toward the Infinite

 

 

"The eye, a strange balloon, moves toward the infinite" a 19th-century lithograph by Odilon Redone was the first artwork to capture my imagination when I was a teen. To me, this print speaks volumes about art life and human potential. Its foreground anchors us at the water's edge while a large hairy eyeball floats above the horizon like a mythical balloon, carrying our hopes toward the heavens. Its frightful appearance is somehow neutralized by its lofty intent.

 

The best works of art come out of this push and pull swing of emotion. Love and hate, fear and desire. The tragic to the sublime are the tensions that somewhere in between we find the intrigue we call art. Art comes from somewhere outside our conscious intentions. Too much deliberation can be toxic, leaving it void of spirit and lacking emotion, I mostly begin painting from the abstract and find my way toward the figurative. The challenge is not so much where to begin, but where to finish.

 

I like to work on several pieces at a time leaving the studio full of canvas at various stages of development. I suppose I do not consider a painting finished until the client comes and takes it away. In the course of every day, I try and move on my own path of discovery. I try not to limit myself to one medium or genre. I do prefer my work to be spontaneous expressionist and allegorical beyond that who knows where tomorrow will lead.

 

If I could paint with the fire of Picasso and the soul of Chagall, I would certainly find my nirvana. For now, I am content to paint all I can with my feet on the ground and my eye fixed on the strange balloon moving toward the infinite."

 

 

Biography

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"I am primarily known for my expressionist figurative work on canvas, fascinated by people, especially women, their movements, and expressions.  My spontaneous abstract use of paint and composition are entwined with a sense of humor and express bold gestures with subtle expressions.

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With a few years of art studies under my belt my wife and I made the decision to move to Maine in the early seventies inspired by the rural lifestyle. Bar Harbor is where we called home and where I have been painting ever since.

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The Maine life has always been the filter through which I dream.  As a painter, this landscape, has been an incredible inspiration and root cause of my works for over fifty years.

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I have shared my passion for the arts through my gallery of thirty-four years in Bar Harbor with fellow artists, visitors, and the community making me and active part of the arts in Maine for five decades."

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My paintings are a place where adults engage in a world of childish innocents.

It’s about a perfect day, a place of eternal youth.  Everything is brightly animated, emotionally charged yet peaceful; it is art to find your inner child.  

Russell D'Alessio

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