Carl Grauer Portrait and Fine Art

Introduction: Using the traditional method of “sight-size” and the technique of alla prima painting, I render two aspects of the human being: the presentation of the self and morphology. Through these two aspects of the psychological and physical, I am interested in the nature of being. We physiologically and psychologically experience a constant metamorphosis. I am interested in the observation of that evolution, how it effects the artifice of the presentation of the self, how to document it; and finally, how by the act of creating a portrait, the art itself acquires an identity of its own. I am inspired to paint; whether it beast or being, or landscape or still life. I enjoy painting the human figure. By painting the human figure, I explore the construction of identity. It is the rendering a sense of the particular individual identity and presence that has been my preoccupation. To capture those singular moments when in a scene with the presence of a sitter while time seems to stand still yet pass so quickly is my bliss. My object is to capture the plains on the face, the values that fall across these plains and how all the shapes connect and relate to each other. All these variables eventually come together and a likeness appears, but not by that singular goal to capture what the person or scene looks like but by the observation of all the pieces that surround and contain the subject. This intense observation becomes a meditation through concentration that feeds my eyes, brain and soul.