Karl Bronk’s fascination with fine art blossomed as a young man living in France and New York City, where the Louvre, the MET and other museums and art galleries throughout Paris and Manhattan offered a unique opportunity to study original classical and contemporary paintings by the greatest artists. The magic of their talents to replicate and alter the visual world with dabs of oil paint started him on his own journey of fine art panting leading to art school. After receiving his education as a fine art major at Salem State University and Montserrat College of Visual Art, he launched his career as an illustrator and art director for Boston advertising agencies, where he worked on client accounts such as Marriott Corporation, Burger King, Bausch & Lomb and many others.
Artist’s Statement:
The visual forms constructing our material world affect me emotionally, and give me a strong desire to capture them on canvas. Although all the disciplines of color, composition, design, drawing, expression and more are necessary for creating impactful fine art, my interest bends toward the shapes and lighting of objects. The visual world consists of shapes defined by light. Shapes express the poetic nature of the material, such as steel, wood, mist, fluid, and more. And light defines its soul. As an artist, I’m excited to capture on canvas the statements our world projects on us. I want my paintings to emit though oil paint the same emotions we experience in reality. And I believe this can be done by capturing the abstract quality of a motif. Abstract shapes are the inherent genetic code of material objects. Shapes arranged together create objects we can all commonly identify. Shapes convey meaning in form. John Singer Sargent was especially adept at accomplishing that.
Light creates mood and releases color. The artistic expression of mood in my paintings emerges as my canvas comes to life. To witness a city at dusk or a boat gently rocking on water or the folds of drapery—all these image forms speak to me through their own distinct personality traits of soft, hard, textured, fluid, rigid, porous, clear, opaque, sensuous, curvy, blocky, and more. And all of these traits define our visual planet as we know it. So, as an artist, depicting visual images on canvas is my way of giving poetic expression to the visual phenomena inhabiting our material world.
Karl Bronk’s collection at Stravitz Art Gallery