Rob Stolzer

medium: painting
portal wisconsin featured artist

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Orange Seeds and Yellow Pod 2002 Painting	Dark Seed 2002 Painting	Red and Orange Interior Sacs 2002 Painting
Sprouted Interior 2002 Painting	Pink Seed 2002 Painting	Soft Interior Seed 2002 Painting
Turning Seed 2001 Painting	Seeds Floating Upward 2001 Painting	Seven Seeds Within 2001 Painting
Sac Within 2001 Painting

Contact information
Artist resides in: Stevens Point, WI
Email Address: rob@robstolzer.com
Web site: www.robstolzer.com

Artist statement
Seeds, eggs, sacs, nests, birds, vessels and parts of the human body are the images that I have incorporated into my work over the past six years. This imagery, which I think of as human seeds, has multiple meanings for me. On one hand the images speak of containment, of a thought or feeling that is held within. But there is also a sense of impending growth that is vital to me. At its base level, this imagery deals with how I relate to others in this world. Whether an encounter is positive or negative, some trace of that encounter is left behind. That trace will lead to the sprouting of new thoughts and feelings. Skin may grow thicker or thinner. A mind may become more open or closed. Seeds sometime sprout beautiful things that we love. But they can also produce things that we don't want to see.

The imagery in my paintings is vital to me, but the process of making the work is equally vital. That process is a growth, from the first strokes on the canvas until the last, with all of the layers of mark making sandwiched in between. My paintings work best when I allow my intuitive side to outweigh my formal side. When that occurs, I become more responsive to the paintings in a holistic sense, without treating them as precious objects. The combination of the intuitive and formal--when they click together--is what gives my imagery life.

Biography
Rob Stolzer received his BFA from the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University in 1985 and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1989. From 1985 to 1987, Rob took part in a two-year artist residency at the Core Program, part of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in Houston, Texas. He also attended the IWCAT (International Workshop of Ceramic Art in Tokoname) residency in Japan. In January of 2001, Rob was in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.

Rob has taught at The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, Rutgers University in New Jersey and the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. He has been teaching painting and drawing at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point since 1990, where he is a full professor in the Department of Art & Design.