|
I
was born October 13th 1963 at Lackland Air Force Base near San
Antonio, Texas, and spent most my youth between San Antonio and
northern California. I currently reside in San Antonio. My art
education is self-taught and even though my father, Anthony
A. Gonzalez, is an accomplished professional
artist , he gave me encouragement but no formal training.
My childhood drawings where mostly of surreal creatures and
otherworldly space travels and as a teenager I began to explore a
bit of wildlife drawing. At 13 years of age, I discovered the
masters of the surreal, fantastic and visionary art through a gift
subscription of OMNI magazine. This was precisely the stimulation
my imagination craved. I was profoundly fascinated by articles
that explored the frontiers of consciousness research,
spirituality, science, psychology, physics and fiction and was
completely enchanted by the art!, seeing for the first time the
visions of Ernst Fuchs, H.R.Giger, Dali, Robert Venosa, De Es, and
many others. My soul was in complete sympathy with this visionary
tradition,
I began exploring art history in search of its memetic origins and
found its golden current flowing through Bosch, William Blake,
Gustave Moreau, Art Nouveau, the Symbolist (especially in the
idealist art of Jean Delville), the Surrealist and the Fantastic
Realist. I also discovered its relationship with mysticism and the
esoteric tradition, a subject which I've always had an interest
due to my natural susceptibility for profound, lucid and
precognitive dreams, OBE's, and sensitivity for synchronicity.
At the age of 19 after a series of what can only be described as
mystical dream experiences, I felt reborn and in the grip of an
inspired calling. Charged by the inspiration of visionary art and
my experiences and research, I began to seriously paint, refining
my technique and developing the imagery as a tool for exploration
and self-discovery.
The
paintings are created with airbrushed acrylics on panel or canvas.
Forms, values and highlighting are created by lifting pigment with
an abrasive eraser, followed by the application of transparent
layers of pigment. A model is used for figure development.
My
eclectic interest is driven to bind into a type of universal
imagery.
This past year I've been quite obsessed with sculptural relief
designs and motifs in Mayan/Aztec, Gothic, Islamic and
Hindu/Buddhist temples. And my latest work reflects this obsession,
which is also inspired by a primal connection within a reoccurring
theme in my dreams and visions, of the guiding stone and the
colors of the earth...
...I
do not consider my work fantasy art or surrealist, and although
influenced by romanticism, symbolism and idealism my work comes
closer to the purpose of a Transpersonal Tantric art.
Primarily
a figurative artist, my images explore the Sophianic (wisdom)
mysteries of the body. And through the inspiration of Western and
Eastern esoteric symbolic imagery, the figures are sublimated by
transfigurative energies, exalted in glory and destiny, made
transparent to the transcendent by the dramatic union of the
sensual and celestial.
|
