John Greifer Art

Some Biographical Information--What do I paint and Why?

 

I started painting in college, not in any formal classroom setting, but in my free time at home.

When I left college for Peace Corps in Guatemala I took my cheap water color set with me.  My love for folk art got some stronger traction in Guatemala seeing the wonderfully colorful and visually provocative wooden masks and statues and mind blowing textiles made by the Maya.  The masks and statues made a strong impression with their primitive, comical and spiritual themes reflected in caricatures of religious, colonial, animal, and other societal figures.

 

My love of Latin religious themes and images, again which are folky, primitive and Spanish colonial in nature was further fueled when I returned to the U.S. and got turned-on to New Mexican “retablo” art.  This is an old folk art form that depicts religious themes, saints, and madonnas produced by folk artists in New Mexico, but which started with the Spanish missionaries 600 years ago with their sacred Catholic images which they brought to the New World. Retablos painters used local pigments, wooden boards, and their own primitive eyes, hands and sentiments to create a unique new class of religious folk art. 

 

I have moved from watercolors to acrylics. I paint on wood boards, some are recycled but now they are mostly plywood boards. My art work continues to be driven by my passion and admiration in retablos and other Latin spiritual folky images.  I have gotten a lot of inspiration from some European artists, such as Modigliani, Matisse, and Picasso works as well as Mexican and other Latin American artists.  However, I also always find inspiration and motivation from local artists who do beautiful, provocative stuff. 

 

Why spend all this time on painting images?  I guess it’s part of a hobby, but I think it’s about  the need to express myself. The images, symbols, and colors help me create and communicate an image that I want to bring into existence, see for myself, and share.  I leave their interpretation to others.

 

John Greifer