Vincent Hron
BIOGRAPHY
Vincent Hron received a B.F.A. from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa (1984), and an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1987). He then received a Graduate Scholarship to study for a year at the State Art Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany. Following a year abroad he moved to Omaha, NE and established a regular studio and exhibition practice. He was an adjunct faculty member at several area colleges and received numerous regional awards. In 1996 he accepted a position at Bloomsburg University. He is currently a full professor having exhibited nationally and having received numerous grants and awards.
STATEMENT
Painting helps me explore the potential for meaning latent in ordinary experience through rigorous analysis of form. Varied aesthetic strategies are employed to question assumptions about art, spirituality, and social responsibility. I endeavor to make work that will engage varied audiences on multiple levels, and consequently, borrow freely from varied traditions to attract and captivate.
TROMPE-L’OEIL
Trompe l’oeil, (French: “deceive the eye”) in painting, creation of an optical illusion in which depicted objects appear three dimensional. In these paintings the trompe l’oeil elements are the elements that project into our space. These are often symbols for death or decay as in the Vanitas tradition.
LANDSCAPES
These painting owe much to the philosophical notion of the sublime and to various Romantic landscape traditions such as the Hudson River School. In contemporary context however, the immense other represented by a foreboding sky reflects more on the long-term impacts of climate change.
CLOUDS
These paintings evolved from the landscapes. I became fascinated with the challenge of depicting a cloud’s fractal nature: endlessly complex and also endlessly self similar. Additionally, clouds are good a metaphor for the self, because while they seem substantial, they are impermanent and in constant change.
SCRIBBLES
This body of work grew from my study of the elaborate fractal patterns in the cloud paintings. In my abstractions, I sought to create the same sort of complexity. I have made hundreds of these drawings starting each with a line scribbled line as spontaneous as possible followed by a search for compelling shapes. It is a process of trial and error with each choice impacting the next.
INTERIORS
The use multiple point perspective in these paintings draws the viewer into the space and suggests movement and maybe the possibility of an animate world. This amplifies the psychological impact of the images.
STILL LIVES
Daily routines offer an opportunity for regular mindful reflection. These paintings explore the infinite narrative and visual potential latent in even the most ordinary activity.