George artist arkansas barns
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Barns and Portrait Paintings
Arkansas artist George Dombek’s fascination with barns began in 1970s Florida, where he captured the geometry of sun and shadow on deteriorating tobacco barns, and he has returned to the subject often in the decades since. For this most recent series, Dombek spent three years covering almost fifty thousand square miles. The barns he found were perhaps unremarkable in themselves—they are, after all, ubiquitous and utilitarian objects—but Dombek’s interpretations reveal an intricacy of character that’s no less diverse than that of human portraiture.
Dombek, who is trained as an architect, uses his watercolors to build up shadows and textures over geometric compositions in a style he calls “Constructed Realism.” To his technical virtuosity he adds humor, pathos, dignity, and reverence as well, creating no less than a visual eulogy to these buildings and their rusting contents.
George Dombek has taught architecture and art at universities in Arkansas
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Meet… George Dombek
Date: August 25, 2017 | Story: Katie Cooper | Photography: Rett Peek |
Renowned artist George Dombek gets back to his roots while showcasing nationally acclaimed pieces in his studio and gallery in Northwest Arkansas
You’re known to many As a watercolor artist, but you also have an extensive background in architecture. How has this shaped your artistic expression and painting technique? That question comes up a lot. Of course my training in architecture plays a large part in my process. It influences the technical approach I have to painting, but I was painting long before I ever knew what architecture was. The first painting I did was in 1960. Painting every day for forty years is what really shapes the work. I am responding to what I see and hopefully people interpret the work in different ways.
Barns are one of the most iconic themes in your art. How did yo • Strolling up the flagstone walkway, I grin at the child’s tricycle perched atop a stone wall and gaze in wonder at the Hobbit-esque tool shed smothered in orange flowers. Hmm. I’m not sure what to make of that giant yellow cube sitting on the lawn. Dogwoods, sycamores and ständigt grön pines guard this 16-acre wood, the magical world of watercolor painter George Dombek. “I won’t tell you about the tricycle,” he teases. “You will have to figure that one out for yourself.” He says later, “The yellow kartong is just art.” (Since then, he has painted the kartong blue). Here in northern Arkansas, literally in the nation of Goshen, the 69-year-old artist has returned from Florida to his roots. His 6,000-square-foot studio and gallery fryst vatten a fitting testament to his boon year
01 Dec In the Studio: George Dombek