Today we’d like to introduce you to Gyan Samara.
Gyan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I have been painting for a quarter of a century in various mediums and for a while I had been searching for a new direction as I felt my work was stagnant. All changed one frigid morning in 2014 when I slipped on some black ice and ruptured a disc in my back. After my surgery, I vowed to get out and create daily so took up landscape painting using a new medium of Sennelier Oil Pastels that I accidentally purchased thinking it was oil sticks. By the time I had figured this out, I was enchanted with this new medium. From the spring of 2014 to the late autumn of 2017 I primarily painted en plein air in all seasons from 15 degrees in the snowscapes of northwestern Illinois to 100 degrees in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.
In mid October of 2017, I was challenged by a friend to return to portraiture painting. I took on this challenge and between October 2017 and January 2018 I had created 20 oil pastel portraits. This felt so natural to me that I am progressing forward primarily painting portraits from my Chicago studio.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
As a fauvist-realist my work reflects the way I see color in life. I capture the subtle variances of color viewed and express them via gesture and line born from the natural tremors in my hands. I embrace these variances and take advantage of them. Thus, creating the energetic, rich, and vivid lines I seek when applying color, or while sculpting the shapes of nature or a face out of the paint. I welcome this natural expression of textured movement, using organic lines to blend colors in my paintings.
I paint on unfinished pine surfaces or colored mat-board. As I add and remove color, the surface is reflected in the finished piece creating a somber, yet energetic, feel. My paintings are created fairly aggressively as I apply layers of similar colors atop each other. Then I gradually move onto more subtle color effects, gently blending pigments together using various tools including my fingers. The final steps of my process are achieved through adding and removing oil pastels, fusing these different techniques. Ultimately, this develops a refined expression, the finished piece.
As a new Chicago based artist, I am working on a few projects consisting of en plein air painting and portraiture. For my personal portraiture work, I am painting 50 ‘Out’ people from all walks of life from the Gay community. My work is all about the process and I invite the person I am painting to be part of this process from start to finish. The portrait starts with a brief photo-shoot and together we select the best image or group of images that I will paint. I then invite the person back to my studio where they can watch and experience the creation of their portrait. I welcome that they take part in the initial painting of the background of the painting. Once the painting starts, they can follow their portraits progress on Instagram.com/WildBeastStudios as I post daily.
Through this project I will have the opportunity to meet many interesting people and hear their life stories or what they would like to share with me. Initially I am reaching out to people to paint but in time my goal is that each person I paint will refer me to another person they know who may be interested in my project. These portraits are collaboration; between myself, and the person I am painting. I ask that each person share a short story to go with each portrait. The goal is to find a space or an organization to exhibit all of these portraits.
To fund this endeavor, I am accepting commission portraiture work of people and pets. If you live in the Chicago area and would like to be part of the process from the photo shoot to watching me paint, please contact me. My prices are fixed based on inches of Length x Width x 2.5. The smallest size I will paint is a head shot at 18”x18”. For the remainder of 2018 year, I have a 50% off sale on 2 sizes of 20”x20” for $495 framed and 20”x16” for $380 framed. If you reside beyond Chicago, I welcome high resolution photos. Please contact me for further details at: info@WildBeastStudios.com
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
For all you creative types who paint in Sennelier Oil Pastels, the best drying medium on the market is Minwax Polyacrylic, which can be found in the paint section of Home Depot. This took me a year to figure out. The ultimate protection is a shadow box frame and IKEA has the best ones for the most affordable price. If you shop at IKEA, make sure you purchase the frames first as they tend to change their framing styles on a regular basis.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Presently my work can be viewed online at my website WildBeastStudios.com, and at Instagram.com/WildBeastStudios where I post my process and progress in stages of each painting with photographs, videos and time lases videos. At times I’ll even do live Instagram painting sessions for an hour at a time. I also post all my completed portraits on Instagram.com/ThePaintedPortraitProject. I can show my work in person if someone is interested in a commission or to purchase a painting. I am seeking representation with art consultants, dealers and galleries.
Contact Info:
- Website: WildBeastStudios.com
- Phone: 4016264209
- Email: info@WildBeastStudios.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/WildBeastStudios
Image Credit:
All images and paintings belong to Gyan Samara.
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