JOHN TORREY
I've traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East and always carry with me a supply of pens and drawing paper. While I come from a family of bankers and merchants, my parents recognized early on that a good way to curb my drawing on walls was to give me sketchbooks. It seems to have stuck. My drawings and paintings are in international collections and recently in Architectural Digest magazine. I've published two illustrated books on my travels and I plan a new book on portraiture, a frequent subject matter.
Like other gestural artists, I employ the techniques of the surrealists who engage in automatic drawing and painting, that is freeing the mind of conscious control to get closer to the workings of the subconscious mind. In addition to portraits I create landscapes and townscapes based on my travels.
What I'm after in my art is for the piece I'm working on to reveal itself. Sometimes this comes quickly. Other times it becomes a laborious process of redoing the work- drawing, painting, or sculpture- until the image seems right.
Like other gestural artists, I employ the techniques of the surrealists who engage in automatic drawing and painting, that is freeing the mind of conscious control to get closer to the workings of the subconscious mind. In addition to portraits I create landscapes and townscapes based on my travels.
What I'm after in my art is for the piece I'm working on to reveal itself. Sometimes this comes quickly. Other times it becomes a laborious process of redoing the work- drawing, painting, or sculpture- until the image seems right.
