Still Life with Kingfisher
The Subtle Realism of Jeff Faust
In the canvases of painter Jeff Faust, violins burst into flame, oars grow from tree roots, eddies of eucalyptus leaves swirl above delicate porcelain bowls, and cages confine clouds, not birds.
The artist's trademark is "subtle surrealism," the extraordinary juxtaposition of ordinary objects resulting in scenes of daydream-like intensity. These are not fantasy paintings, nor are they internal landscapes. Faust likes to term his works "visual poetry," because like poems, they are collections of painstakingly arranged images.
"I started painting when I was in grade school and I didn't pay any attention to what I was doing," My education was my own; it was a reading education and a visual education." He pored over art books, becoming absorbed in the works of Miro, Magritte, Picasso and the Flemish masters. Instead of following the circumscribed route to an art degree, he simply painted.
"I never wanted another human to tell me what to do," he explains. "I had no desire for some professor or some teacher to give me their views on paintings. I figured I could get my own views. I knew it would be a long, hard road, but I also knew it would be me."
The body of work that grew out of this solitary, passionate pursuit is at once strikingly unique and curiously familiar. His visual vocabulary borrows from nature: feathers, leaves, eggs, a cluster of grapes, a bird with a cherry in its beak. There are recurring objects and themes, as well: Spheres are common motifs, as are painted vases, bowls and other vessels. Scenes are glimpsed through portals and frames. The background is often a pastoral sky that gives the impression of infinite space. In several works are vivid echoes of - or nods to - Magritte: a violin, a bright green apple, a cloud-filled sky. And like the Belgian surrealist, Faust is a skilled workman, a meticulous technician whose work is often photographically vivid.
"My process is an unusual one," Faust admits. "I rarely start out with a specific idea in mind, they grow as the painting progresses. I change my mind an awful lot to reach the conclusion I want. You may leave one fate, only to arrive at another uncertainty."
"I grew up looking at the surrealist work and I truly was taken with it," he says, "but I am not out on a mission to shock people - as if there's not enough of it in the world at large. We get so numb to it that it really doesn't have any significance anymore. I've never felt the need to shock. I'd rather intrigue."
Henri Matisse once playfully claimed that he wanted his art to be like an armchair. Faust entertains similar hopes. "I like to think of a lot of my paintings as being a stopping place," he says, "like a bench where you can just sit and think."
Excerpted from an article by Tai Moses that appeared in The Salinas Weekly, June 22-28, 2000
About Faust Prints
Caring for your Print
About the Artist Nature as Everyday Objects
The Subtle Surrealism of Jeff Faust
Original Paintings
© 2007 Bergelli Limited