Ira Stark grew up in the 1960’s on Long Island, NY where he developed his talent and passion for drawing and painting. In those early years, the paintings of the impressionists bewitched him. “As a teenager, I would take the railroad to New York City to visit the art museums, I would be drawn to the section of the museum exhibiting the masters of the Impressionists, the Monet’s, Van Gogh’s, Renoir’s. I closely examined their techniques, brushstrokes, lighting and colors and I would quietly say to myself, I can do that!”
It is easy to see that his earlier paintings emulated the Impressionists. “I like to use bright, vivid colors and impasto in my paintings. The bright colors and thick paint strokes allow me more control over the play of light and adds expressiveness to the paintings. The heavy textures help convey the energy and 3- dimensional reality from the surface of the canvas.”
After seeing his paintings, Ronnie Meyerson President of Ronnie Mey, Inc. , an art gallery owner from Hoboken, NJ wrote “ I find Mr. Stark’s work to show a richness of colors, and although reminiscent of the French and American Impressionists they are done in a more “naïve” and modern style than the works of Monet and Van Gogh. I especially love the richness of his colors. If you see Ira’s work in terms of paintings like Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles both artists are depicting their vision of their surroundings.”
Many of his paintings during his impressionism phase depicted city scenes from his travels to Italy, Paris, Prague and at his hometown of Philadelphia. These can be viewed at irasart.com.
Like most artists, his paintings have changed over the years as he experimented with technique and color to a more modern style of art. His paintings are now more abstract depicting a more expressionistic style and still retaining his signature bright colors and thick brushstrokes.
