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Excerpt from "Urban Perspectives" - Chris Rywalt, NYC Art
"His latest series is a showcase for how far he can take his abilities: he is, really, an Olympic-level athlete of painting. I've seen a lot of fantastic painters in my time, academically trained and otherwise, but Denis -- Denis is in a class by himself. He is the Michael Phelps of painting, the Usain Bolt of airbrush and paintbrush. He makes Vermeer look like Jackson Pollock. The results of all this technique and choice of subject are technical marvels
and entertaining documentaries. Even though the precise moment of each painting never exists,
it's nevertheless true in the sense that it's a minor drama enacted every day. The signs and buildings
of New York City are fluid, ever-changing, and no snapshot could possibly capture more than a momentary
portrait of any given vista; but Denis, through his art, manages to snare a true, timeless sense of how the city feels."
PROCESS: On-site photos are taken from different angles to produce 500k to 1mb jpegs. Final reference shots are selected and edited in Photoshop as to scale and proportion, leaving approximately one to two inch images from which drawings are made to incorporate additional compositional changes, altered depths of field, expanded color ranges and tonal perspective in enlarged foundational underpaintings. Gouaches, polyvinyls, copolymers, and urethanes in combination with a range of acrylic mediums and resins are applied in glazes with airbrushes and sable brushes are utilized for special effects. Most paintings are completed within 250 hours, depending on size and complexity. CLASSES: Registration is closed for Summer 2009. There is a waiting list for Spring 2010. |
Walkin' New York detail 3'x4' Acrylic gouache on canvas