Abstracts Acrylic Painting

No. 36 Plaka Walkabout update

September 1, 2023September 27, 2023 Jay M. Ressler 0 Comments Abstract, Acrylic, Athens, Plaka

Plaka Walkabout

I updated this painting, Plaka Walkabout to donate it to a charitable project to benefit CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).

About the Painting:

The Plaka is a charming neighborhood in Athens, Greece, that is situated on a hillside in the shadow of the Acropolis. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city and is sometimes described as a village within the city. Auto traffic is prohibited. The area is a latticework of walkways connecting colorful homes and gardens. Figs, grapes, and red wine inspired the deep reds and purples I chose for the painting. Gold highlights emphasize the richness of this lush doorway to the past. A metallic tear in the canvas references cultural losses Greece has suffered through the millennia, particularly the plunder of national treasures by Imperial agents still housed unrepentantly in The British Museum.

And…Oh Yes!

There are the cats! They are everywhere on the Plaka. Groomed, unafraid, well-fed, and ever attentive to human ambulations.

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Jay M. Ressler

Jay Ressler Composite Photography, Encaustic Art, and Oil Painting He is an outstanding location photographer and painter, with an eye that can capture the soul of a Havana back street as beautifully as the sip of a hungry hummingbird, often with compelling black and white images. Jay Ressler is best known for artistic expression that lives in layers between opposites. “I like to explore boundaries,” he explains. “Boundaries between consciousness and the unconscious, between reality and imagination, between certainty and skepticism.” He does this by compositing his own photography in multiple layers to produce stunningly original, interleaved images. Using Photoshop, other image manipulation software and a variety of digital effects, he paints one photographic layer on top of another. He takes advantage of textures he's captured along with an array of processes for manipulating light, contrast, and color to tell the story. “Distorting and reinterpreting the literal 'machine moments' captured by the camera is as old as the art of photography,” he insists. Jay occasionally extends his multi-layered approach to encaustic mixed media creations. Based on ancient techniques, the process begins with cooking his own recipes of beeswax and damar resin and applying this medium between the layers of photographic images, along with various pigmented compounds and materials to add color, texture and expression. Either way, the results are riveting. The viewer is drawn into an unfolding, dreamlike scene that might be heart-warming, haunting, gritty, poignant or magical. Sometimes, within the various layers, all of the above. The award-winning photographer/artist has many dimensions himself. He studied advanced digital photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and advanced encaustic techniques with leading instructors in the field. He worked as an underground coal miner, steelworker, machinist, labor and civil rights activist, copywriter and commercial printer. He has a BS in Psychology from Albright College.

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