Ralph Mantia Sr

Art has always been a part of my life. I made a living doing art for the last 47 years and hope to continue to do so until I can't do it any longer. Painting is what keeps me thinking, dreaming, visualizing, and growing. There is always something new to express or communicate.

At a young age I did vivid spontaneous abstract free form images that expressed emotion, color, fun and feelings. I kept changing, growing, and evolved into more of graphic design images, hard edge shapes and colors. I have always tried to express the present in everything I painted. My work over the years evolved as I evolved, grew, and aged. As my ideas, opinions, beliefs and emotions grew, so had my paintings. I have this history of work and its evolution. What I was doing always fit the time and my character. In all my work, I tried to communicate a time and reference to my life in motion, a personal reaction, and commitment. I just didn’t try to duplicate an image, shape, or color. I tried to express a new experience and relationship to that particular time.

At my present stage and level in life my work has taken on a more conservative look and style. It’s more representational and impressionistic. Representational in that I’m painting and using more recognizable images versus abstract images. While in this process, from youth to present, I have maintained my sense of design, composition, vivid color, and expression in my paintings. I believe that it is very important to see and maintain this history of the artist and his work. I have started to include some of my earlier paintings with my present paintings. I think it is a good way to recognize this past and combine it with the present. I feel that combining the past with the present one can see how the combination of how I paint and the techniques. It is a reflection of the whole personality and not just one side of what I paint.

I consider myself and style part of a new wave of impressionism, a new style and focus to and for the future. In that, I have joined a group of artists that share this same focus of heart and direction, we have maintained our individuality in our paintings. We call ourselves “The New Impress Impressionists Society”. We have been exhibiting our work together as a group at different galleries in the Jacksonville area at this present time.

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