Bill Chisholm

Through my paintings, I attempt to synthesize the long tradition of classical realist painting with the inspiration of the relatively new art medium of photography. By drawing on the skills from my previous photography work I utilize the camera to create intimate “portraits” of my still life subjects. The pre-painting photographic study offers a very specific way of observing and capturing a subject. While using the photograph as a visual reference I then proceed to draw and paint with the sight-size method and other classical techniques in the same way painters have worked from casts or life drawing for generations.

As realist painter, I work toward creating a painting which embodies the historical techniques of nuanced paint handling and lighting. Painting in this tradition is an exploration that moves me further away from the original photo and allows me to continually explore these mediums finding where they converge and where they separate. I use my fascination with paint’s unique qualities of luminosity, texture and blending to achieve this goal.

In my paintings of fruits and vegetables, my goal is not only to provide a realistic image of the subject but also to capture the object’s uniqueness and “character.” I continue to build the layers of paint while exploring a diverse range of contemporary color fields and compositions frequently inspired from modernist and abstract painting. My objective is to develop these paintings until they express an emotive experience unique to the subject and the medium of oil paint.

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