Jacob Guerin

I began my career at Miami Art Institute not really knowing what field I wanted to pursue. However, I did know I wanted to make art my profession. It was towards the beginning of my second year where I became hyper fixated on the old tradition of oil painting. I became obsessed with studying materials, techniques and old artists of the past. It was soon after that that I realized that I was a rebel in a post modern art school. I did have one professor that understood what I was after and guided me the best they could but ultimately I felt like I was kind of on my own. It's been over 10 years since I graduated and the older I get the more I realize how much I didn't learn in school. I read somewhere in a painting book that the best way to learn how to paint is looking and copying from artists you admire. So that's what I've been doing since then. Not plaguerizing but studying brush techniques, materials and different ways to layer paint to achieve certain effects. It's an ongoing study and struggle but I find it satisfying an rewarding. Because it's over 10 years and I'm still obsessed with painting.

As far as concept and narrative are concerned I find myself looking to Johannes Vermeer and William Bouguereau for historical inspiration. In other bodies of my work I draw inspiration from Mythology and try to make it my own like Bouguereau did. But the theme I always find myself consistently returning to, is the quiet contemplative moments that figures experience in everyday life. And I know there is something significant to that because Vermeer was infatuated with it as well. I've been drawn to it even before I knew who Vermeer was. And the painting Im submitting for this competition is in the same vein. I love painting flesh in warm interiors being bathed by cool sunlight. It is a most delightful visual experience and I try to capture the feeling of the experience the best I can without simply copying reality. 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.