New Haven, CT
website:www.lennymoskowitzart.com
Lenny Moskowitz is a Connecticut landscape painter who lives in New Haven with his wife. He graduated with his B.F.A from the Philadelphia College of Art and received his M.F.A. from Michigan's Cranbrook Academy. Lenny has participated in group and solo shows at numerous galleries and has taught classes and workshops in Connecticut, Block Island. Presently he teaches at Quinnipiac University.
He has been awarded several artist in residencies, such as the Anderson Center in Michigan and NISDA Foundation on Nantucket, MA. He makes yearly painting trips to Maine, as well as frequent sojourns to the surrounding Connecticut woods to paint the landscapes.
My paintings are a loose interpretation of a response to life. The response is a communion between subject and self. The practice of painting captures what is seen. A good painting is as much observed into existence as it is painted into existence. Paint is liquid, spontaneous, and for me, unpredictable. Working with an understanding of subject, but without an attachment to the process of its capture results in a more honest translation.
Sometimes I paint over paintings using my palimpsest process. My goal is to have some of the earlier painting show through, allowing some of what was remain. My overall task is to create a sense of light and represent depth. While working, wild colors occur. At first, these colors will be the under painting, waiting to be covered by realism. Later in the painting process, I will decide to leave the wildness as it is. The original spontaneous color conveys a truer experience of light and the feeling of surprise.
An artist trains over a long period of time to paint. Besides learning how to be skillful and expressive, one must learn how to be practical in living. The ability to support one’s self is important for allowing time to learn. I do not want my paintings to look labored. I am reminded of what it took to arrive at the conclusions of my paintings-- trial and error in layers of color, but also my personal history. The act of painting does not take part in a time and space outside of life. It cannot be compartmentalized. I try to portray my best intentions. Art is self-portrait.