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Robert Hromec: New Mixed-Media Paintings on Aluminum Plate
Over the course of his two-decade career, the Slovak-born artist Robert Hromec (born 1970) has been experimenting with materials and technology to update the form. In his latest mixed-media paintings on aluminum plate, abstract form provides the chance to explore art history in a new way.
Robert Hromec’s new mixed-media work comes out of his extensive engagement with traditional forms of lithography and intaglio, but its exciting qualities owe more to his work as a painter, specifically with color and graphic design. In its formal sophistication, innovative use of materials, and atmospheric vitality, the work questions traditional painting even as it adheres to tradition.
More than twenty years ago, while working as a printmaker, Hromec found himself with a number of aluminum plates that, though used up for lithographic purposes, seemed too interesting for him to simply discard. Instead, he began to think of them as a starting point for a new kind of painting—in essence, as a substitute for canvas.
During his eight-year stay in New York City (1990-1998), Hromec experimented with mixing various art techniques to achieve his unique art language, which he calls “printpainting.” Optical illusion plays an important role in his latest printpaintings, with aluminum plate used as the base.
Robert Hromec’s new mixed-media work comes out of his extensive engagement with traditional forms of lithography and intaglio, but its exciting qualities owe more to his work as a painter, specifically with color and graphic design. In its formal sophistication, innovative use of materials, and atmospheric vitality, the work questions traditional painting even as it adheres to tradition.
More than twenty years ago, while working as a printmaker, Hromec found himself with a number of aluminum plates that, though used up for lithographic purposes, seemed too interesting for him to simply discard. Instead, he began to think of them as a starting point for a new kind of painting—in essence, as a substitute for canvas.
During his eight-year stay in New York City (1990-1998), Hromec experimented with mixing various art techniques to achieve his unique art language, which he calls “printpainting.” Optical illusion plays an important role in his latest printpaintings, with aluminum plate used as the base.
- GenresArt
64 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2013
259 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 26, 2014
I suppose it has more to do with the second hand nature of reading a book about works of art. The words, such as they are, relate to the reader a short bio of the artist and tells a little bit about the work. In this case, the artist, Robert Hromec, who has studied extensively in New York and London, makes his home and does his art in Bratislava. He has produced numerous exhibitions of his work and has won many awards and honors for the same.
I found the artwork portrayed in these photo images lacking something. While the art is a juxtaposition of paints, lithographic techniques and industrial tooling upon aluminum, there is something missing in it. Reading the few notes that accompany the four sets of work you find that the artist knows that these pieces are meant not only to be seen, but touched. The detailing brought out by the tooling and the use of the metal which has a reflective quality means that when you are actually viewing these pieces in-site, you see them as a more complex thing than you do when viewing images of them. By touching them, feeling the various textures and defining designs within the work, only then can you know the true meaning of the work.
While this book would be a good memento with which to relive the experience of the work in question, it is like every art book in existence, just a faint taste of the real thing. Still in all I did enjoy this brief sojourn into Hromec's world courtesy of Goodreads.
I found the artwork portrayed in these photo images lacking something. While the art is a juxtaposition of paints, lithographic techniques and industrial tooling upon aluminum, there is something missing in it. Reading the few notes that accompany the four sets of work you find that the artist knows that these pieces are meant not only to be seen, but touched. The detailing brought out by the tooling and the use of the metal which has a reflective quality means that when you are actually viewing these pieces in-site, you see them as a more complex thing than you do when viewing images of them. By touching them, feeling the various textures and defining designs within the work, only then can you know the true meaning of the work.
While this book would be a good memento with which to relive the experience of the work in question, it is like every art book in existence, just a faint taste of the real thing. Still in all I did enjoy this brief sojourn into Hromec's world courtesy of Goodreads.
Displaying 1 of 1 review