Provocative Traditional Painting

Meet David Cheifetz. He goes by the name ~turningshadow.

Here is David's self portrait:


Here are his paintings.:



David is a wonderful traditional painter here on deviantArt. Artists like David are literally resurrecting traditional realist painting, which was on the verge of being purposefully snuffed out by modernism. This is a rich interview which will open your eyes to the "hot new trend"... of artists intent upon reclaiming a nearly lost language. Depending upon the kind of art you follow, this interview will challenge you, excite you, or provoke you!

1. David, describe how it feels to have a "traditional" calling as an artist. Were you always connected to realism?

"It feels great. I would say that I have not always been connected with realism.  I think a turning point that caused me to greatly appreciate classical art and architecture came during a quarter that I spent studying architecture in Rome.  Seeing Caravaggios and Berninis in person was more life-altering than I'd expected.  I didn't fully appreciate painted works until beginning my education at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore. And what's more, I didn't like still-life in the least. I originally started at Schuler's with the goal of improving my drawing skills so I could become an illustrator. I hadn't expected to like oil painting at all.  After an instructor introduced me to some of David Leffel's work, I realized the potential for beauty in still-life and I was hooked."



2.You ARE aware that you would have been burned at the stake as a heretic against modernism if you were painting this way thirty years ago... Please Describe the realism scene as it exists today."

It's exciting. Realism is IN. David Leffel, Jeff Legg, Richard Schmid, Mian Situ, Jeffrey Watts, and Morgan Weistling are some of my favorite contemporary painters who have opened my eyes to the power of realism. As a learning painter, the abundance of young talent is very motivating.....Jeremy Lipking, Jeremy Mann, Casey Baugh, David Kassan, Scott Powers, Ignat Ignatov...just a few of the young artists whose work is especially exciting to me."

"As creative industries (such as video game and animation studios) expand and continue to require more and more highly trained artists, students are seeing the value in classical/representational training. I think universities will slowly begin to abandon the practice of using theory as the basis of art education and will embrace skill-based and classical training. "Lazy art" is going to be left in the dust. It's going to be so awesome."



3.Your education background is quite stunning. Can you share some highlights of your journey.

"As a kid I always wanted to be an architect. I greatly enjoyed studying architecture in college, but in the workforce I was frustrated by the glacial pace of it, and the constant fight to keep beauty and art from been shunted aside. Fortunately, architecture gave me a solid foundation of drawing skills which has greatly benefited my painting."

In the fall of 2007 I started learning how to paint with oils at the Schuler School and it quickly became my focus. The benefits of a classical training are so great.....for example, when a master painter shows you how to correctly hold a paintbrush, you learn how to hold a paintbrush. Ideas and concepts can always come later...first I need the skills. Because of my experience in a architecture career which I have since abandoned, I have the urgent desire to learn how to create good art.



4. An argument exists in some camps that the training you have immersed yourself in "harms" the creative spirit. What would be your response?

"Arg! On the contrary, my training has released me. With the skills that I'm acquiring, I feel that I can truly be creative. How can a mason build without tools? Without skills, your creative spirit is trapped by your inability to express. I quite like some modern art, so I'm not bashing. Concerning abstract art--I feel that you need to be abstracting SOMETHING in order to make abstract art. In a visual medium, abstracting ideas isn't abstraction. John Singer Sergeant laying down a single masterful brushstroke to represent the play of light hitting the filtrum of an upper lip...THAT is abstraction. As David Leffel says in one of his books, blobs and drips of paint on canvas aren't abstract, they are actually quite literal. They are what they are....blobs and drips of paint!"



5. David, Your paintings are, to me and many others, absolutely gorgeous. Can you please describe your creative process, and explain the legendary Maroger medium that you use?

"I begin with a toned panel. I like panel more than canvas--I just like starting on a smooth surface I guess. I'll loosely (but accurately) block in shapes of shadow with an umber color. At this point if I don't like the composition or placement, I'll wipe it out and start again. After I've got my shapes of shadow lightly blocked in (always squinting to see mass, not detail!), I start painting directly with spots of color, being sure to establish my darkest dark and lightest light as quickly as possible. This helps me judge my range of values for the rest of the painting. I like to paint direct: to plan for the ending from the very beginning(also a Leffel-ism, I think). If I work over multiple sessions, I'll use the opportunity to begin each session with any glazing I might want, to bring the painting together.  Glazes need to be done over dry layers, so they come first. I'm finished with a painting when the work I'm doing is no longer making any significant improvements.

Maroger medium is a versatile gel medium, allowing for thick impasto or perfect transparent glazes. It is made of half black oil and half mastic varnish. Black oil is linseed oil cooked with lead oxide (litharge, a drying agent). The ratio of lead to oil can be altered to create different drying times...ranging from minutes to weeks. My school typically uses a ration of 15:1 which allows for drying of thin layers overnight. When you shake black oil and mastic varnish together in a small jar, it becomes a buttery gel within about 30 seconds. Maroger medium is meant to approximate the materials used by the old masters.



6. You are exhibiting in some very professional fine art galleries (and selling your work it seems). Do you have advice for other artists here about how to appropriately approach a gallery?

"I'm still learning about that too. I think the most important thing is to concentrate on your craft. If your work is good enough, it will do the talking for you. I'm sure being accountable, professional, and polite also helps."

7. Your greatest inspiration?

"My parents and grandparents, who are good people.
If we're talking strictly art, I'd say the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who I think was the greatest artist ever."

8. The Washington National gallery of Art is flooding. Quick: Which three paintings do you save?

"Well, if the whole Smithsonian is flooding. I'd go first for Rembrandt's 1659 "Self-Portrait". Next I'm grabbing Abbot Handerson Thayer's "Angel"...or if that one is already underwater I'll take a different Thayer..maybe "A Virgin". Thirdly, I'm dashing over to the Corcoran. Even though it's not part of the Smithsonian and it's not flooding, I only have room for three paintings and I'm in a lootin' mood. I'm taking all 7.5 feet of Frederic Church's "Niagra".  That's for my 300 s.f. apartment."

9.Your ultimate artistic goal?

"To have the privilege of making art for a living for the rest of my life."

Thank you, David! We will keep watching you!  -John Paul


John Paul Thornton is the author of the book "Art And Courage: Stories to Inspire the Artist-Warrior Within." by Fire Opal Publishing. Distributed by Atlas Books.