John Stanton Romig’s Artist Statement

“I will to keep this brief & short in duration.”

Looking back on my life and how I relate myself to creativity, I see the primary artistic expression of kindergarten age children in my own artwork.  I began, like all of us, with Crayola Crayons.  Then, my mother introduced me to artist pencils of varying hardnesses.

Ebony Graphites brought me in touch with my little gift of drawing: the shiny silver salt & pepper shakers on the dining room table.

I am primarily a true believer of art.

I know that through meditation on the objects of our surroundings, whether they be dynamic ten second nude poses captured on paper with vine or compressed charcoal or long studied passages of little tags of oil paint capturing the fuzziness of a ripening peach.  It is all a meditation on the phenomena around us.

The age of the “Thought-Terminating Cliché,” Is, I hope, coming to an end.

Art, like life, is a process of correcting Mistakes.

 

Biography:

Born January 11, 1967

Year of the Horse

New York City, Manhattan

Youngest of 7 Children

 

-Educated in public schools in Rochester, New York.  Grew up in Rochester  & Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, Canada

 

-BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in painting, 1989.   David Frazier & Dennis Congdon were primary mentors.

 

-Yale Fellowship, Norfolk, CT.  Under Roger Tibbetts, Richard Ryan, & Denzel Hurley, among others.  12 Credits from Yale School of art in 1988.

-European Honors Program of RISD in Roma, Italia from 1988-1989.  Olivetti Award in 1989 for Best Painter in Rome, EHP.

-Travels to Australia, Bali, Java, Souteast Asia, India, Sikkim, Nepal & Kasmir from 1991 – 1992, as well as Ladakh.  Studied other religions, languages, Tibetan painting & Indian Figurative sculpture.

-Been working full-time in residential building since 1992 & been gaining experience in business.

-Continued to paint in oils whenever I can.  I’ve been living in Berkeley for 8 years.  I lived in Santa Fe for 6 years prior to living in California.

 

I am an avid Snowboarder, Skiier, motorcyclist & outdoor enthusiast.