Scott Sterling

Artist Statement

These works synthesize personal dreams and visions with the symbolic and iconographic inheritance of western paganism. I paint birds and other images from nature with an eye for their intrinsic beauty as well as their symbolic resonance as signs of power and transformation. I have painted and drawn birds since childhood and see them as luminous, almost otherworldly beings. My ongoing study of the Mediterranean and European pagan traditions, as well contemporary thought, enables me to understand my vision and place it within the context of the emerging movements of visionary art and neo-pagan spiritual practice.Each image, whether digital or acrylic, is the result of a process of several stages: first meditating on a subject matter or vision, then building up the image through diverse techniques and sources. Many visual elements (especially the birds) are hand-drawn and painted; other pieces come from my photography, others are modeled 3-D software. All of these I work over with hand painting until they form an integrated whole.

Biography

From my earliest childhood memories I have drawn and painted birds, images from nature and from the imagination. Attending Reed College (BA Philosophy 1992) and UC San Diego (MA Philosophy 1995) I continued to paint and draw while studying philosophy, classical literature, and the western pagan/esoteric tradition. My first love in art movements were Surrealism, Symbolism, and Metaphysical art, but I came to see these as precursors to the emerging movement of 21st century visionary and spiritual art. In the years after graduate school I focused on music, first playing percussion and composing music for dance, theater, and circus ensembles, then producing my own music as Drumspyder (www.drumspyder.com). Recently (2005-present) I have returned to painting in acrylics and the the digital medium.

Past Shows:

6/19/2010
"Dakini Nights" (Group show, in conjunction with Drumspyder album release party)
Cay Nightclub, Tokyo

11/12/05
"Shapeshifters" (Group Show)
Hangar 1018, Los Angeles, CA

8/2005
Vines Cafe & Gallery, Alameda, CA (Solo Show)