Favorite Places: Southern Utah and Italian Landscapes

Art Reception

Art by Bernard Simbari · Exhibit runs from Mar 7 - Apr 25

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Exposure to regular art therapy sessions has pushed me to create original (“out of my head”) abstract artworks. More often though, art expression with pencil and colored pens has found me drawn to Santa Fe/Taos, New Mexico and southern Utah landscapes or Native American scenes. Over the years I have enjoyed doing my own takes on masterworks from art magazines and books and doing original works from photographs. Lately, as seen in this show, I have been painting Southern Utah and Italian landscapes from photographs.With most all of these compositions I like to challenge myself and incorporate great detail and vibrant (some say fauvist) explosions of color.

ARTIST BIO:

After a stroke in 2007, I began art and music therapy in the fall of 2008 and soon realized a talent for drawing with my non-dominant hand (left arm unaffected by stroke). Since November 2009, I have produced over 700 colored pen “paintings” on paper. In the early years after stroke, many paintings were inspired by impressionist masterworks from books and magazines. Then I progressed to free-hand paintings of landscapes of Torrey, UT and nearby Capitol Reef N.P., original still lives and abstracts, and paintings from photographs. Before my stroke, I was a dermatologist for 35 years in the Salt Lake valley, antique and art collector and home restorer. “Art for Non-majors” was my worst grade in college, and now 13 years after a stroke, art expression continues to give me a huge “lift” and countless hours of enjoyment.

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