Joe Triano
My Art is My Life |
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I was born on March 5, to a working class family in Harrison, New Jersey, not far from the city of Newark. My art education, largely informal even as I grew older, began on my twelfth birthday when I was given a monograph book chronicling the life of Vincent van Gogh; it opened my eyes to a world of color. As I grew older, the prospect of formal training was lost as the economic hardship of the time required me to work to support my family; still, I was determined to pursue my love of art, and to develop my talents. In later years, I would study under the tutelage of renowned artists Taylor Oughton and Vernon Wood. In my work, I allow the painting to guide me, taking on a life of its own; the colors I use are dictated by the piece, itself, as it comes to life. I believe that my love of color is directly related to the manner in which van Gogh orchestrated his own palette, without barriers. I find it impossible, in truth, to explain my deep-seeded passion for the historical tumult surrounding the mid-nineteenth century, and the plight of the Native American, caught in the westward expansion of the United States. My introduction to the period, interestingly enough, was through the Western serials of the 1960's. On television and in film, Native Americans were always portrayed as the villain, or at most, an object to be both pitied and dismissed; even as a young boy, it never seemed right to me. My inexplicable kinship with the culture of the Native American is a mystery to me, except to reason that those forces which work in shaping our past and defining our future, of which man his little knowledge, are solely responsible for my unusual passions, and for lending me the means to convey them. I did not choose my subject, instead, it chose me. And it was not until 1986, when my son was born, that I would leave the city of my youth and relocate, amid the horse and dairy farms of southwestern New Jersey, to be at peace and concentrate on my new life, as a father and as an artist. I hope to inspire the viewers of my work with a strong sense of emotion, sparking the imagination to invoke remembrances of earlier times and to form a lasting relationship with the subject of each painting. I am passionate about everything I do, in my work and in my life. My art is my life.
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