Hyperreal Painter Sheryl Luxenburg Creates A Flattened Depiction Of Space
I am a Canadian hyperreal artist who has not taken a straight route to be a painter. I received two graduate degrees in clinical psychology and spent twenty years working in the field, but after being diagnosed with an autoimmune illness, I decided to retire. I had been painting my whole life and attended art school, so I decided to explore my passion for painting on a full time basis.
I have long admired and been greatly influenced by the photorealism movement in the United States. This term was coined by New York art dealer Louis Meisel in the late 1960s. In the late 1970s through to the mid 1980s, I received mentoring from the famous first generation photo-real painter named Tom Blackwell. Tom taught me how to grid my drawings to enhance accuracy and how to glaze thin translucent colours one on top of the other; a technique which I still use today in both watercolour on paper and acrylic on linen. Tom was a brilliant painter and a wonderful human being and I am extremely sad to say that he passed away from the corona virus in April 2020. The art world will certainly miss him.
As you may note my work is quite meticulous. People always ask me how I have the patience to paint so tightly and I tell them that having this amount of focus is relaxing and even meditative. When I concentrate on the most minute details, everything else I am thinking about fades into the background. I find this narrowing of attention enhances my otherwise distractible nature.
I paint in a series of about 10-20 paintings. All the series I create are my vision. I take my own photographs and use them as a primary source material for reference. I can take hundreds of photos in designing just one painting. I hire models and/or choose objects through which I can project my own journey by creating a highly distinctive environment and storyline.
Because I am transferring cut and paste photographic designed images into hand drawn and painted images, theflattened depiction of space is somewhat present in the photo. In regular realism, the 3D contouring/shading is 360 degrees and darkly shaded towards the rear of the object. In a flattened depiction of space, the contouring ends more abruptly at 180 degrees with lighter values towards the rear. This intention to produce a flattened depiction of space is highly stylized and what I wish to be known for.
My subject matter combines my lifelong interest in clinical psychology with my passion for fine art. More specifically, my work revolves around people or objects that experience some type of distress, such as confusion, dread, conflict, anger, or numbness. Emotions related to feeling overwhelmed, useless, or abandoned also play prominent roles within my compositions. I describe my figures interacting with water as an expression of a fatigued emotional state. I had an epiphany about 20 years ago when I realized that my subject matter was a direct projection of the psychological struggles I was having in my life.
Luxenburg, The High Road, Acrylic On Linen, 36x30in
Luxenburg, Beginning, Watercolour Sketch
Luxenburg, Beginning, Acrylic On Linen, 36x30in.
Luxenburg, Forest From Trees, Acrylic On Linen, 36x30in.
Luxenburg, Blindsided, Acrylic On Linen, 60x30in.
Luxenburg, Prayer, Acrylic On Linen, 24x36in.
Luxenburg, Dread, Acrylic On Linen, 24x36in.
Luxenburg, Room To Breathe, Acrylic On Linen, 24x36in.
Luxenburg, A Night Cap, Acrylic On Linen, 24x36in.
Luxenburg, Hindsight, Acrylic On Linen, 36x30in.
