ArtSpan – ArtSpan Art Auction
Auction Ends: Apr 13, 2015 02:59 AM PDT

Auction Event Art

"Market Street" by Rafe Mischel

Item Number
235
Estimated Value
500 USD

Live Event Item

This is a Live Event Only item.

Item Description

2014, Oil on Canvas, 14 x 11

Item Special Note

Artist Statement: I was born and raised in San Francisco, a city that never ceases to present its inhabitants with new and striking views. We are all familiar with the appeal of the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower, but I see just as much beauty and grandeur in the sweep of a freeway overpass, a network of power lines, or fog rolling over one of our lesser known hills or buildings. Often working with photographs I take as I am living here, or in the places that I visit, I paint the combinations of color and texture, intricate detail, and scale that we see every day, but are often too busy to admire. I have a great appreciation for the sights and feelings of nature, and believe that the same balance of power and serenity is also to be found in urban settings. As imposing as our human-made structures can seem, the feeling can be not unlike that of the forest. Everywhere is life, change, and growth. I describe these paintings as snapshots or portraits in the history of this place, a moment of a day, a blink in the rapidly changing urban landscape. Before I have finished a painting, the location itself may have evolved beyond that moment, never to appear the same. I compose my paintings carefully, at times heightening the drama with distortion. The presence of massive clouds over the city hints at our comparatively small and temporary place on the planet, and the ways in which we are never really removed from nature. I find that this perspective has a calming effect on what, in the rush of daily life, can feel like a very chaotic city. Given all our distractions, it’s important to take a moment to notice the beauty of the place in which we live.