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"Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes"
~ Arshile Gorky ~
Art As The Window To The Soul
Throughout history, art has served as a medium of expression within society. Impressionism provides a retrospective look at how previous generations interacted with each other. It further expressed their values.
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When I began to create art almost 30 years ago, I created pencil drawings that were colorful and geometric. It was a time when I practiced law actively, and my artwork was an expression of what I thought. As I moved to create acrylics on canvas, once again with bold colors, I began to see my work as an expression of my feelings. I opened the window to my soul and expressed my inner vision through acrylic paint on canvas. There are many evenings when I sit in my studio, at home, and stare at a blank canvas. If I can’t see the vision of what I want on the canvas, I don’t begin to paint.
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The wonderful thing about working in acrylics and painting abstracts is that it allows me to present my imagination that will be re-interpreted by the viewer as their vision. Viewing my paintings with others often brings a new and creative dimension to my work. That is a profoundly enriching experience. I have taken another person and opened their mind and soul to a unique experience through the medium of my work.
Who is Mark Schussel?
Mark Schlussel is an abstract artist whose work combines the cerebral and the emotional. After an extended legal career and continuing business career, he began delving into the world of color and texture over a quarter-century ago.
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Early in his career, Schlussel worked exclusively in pencil, developing drawings in the abstract. Those drawings were a reflection of his thought. His geometric mode of design discipline and color application was a product of his legal training at the University of Michigan Law school. Those drawings and his early canvases show the discipline of a lawyer presenting his case.
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As Schlussel’s creative endeavors moved from pencils to acrylics and from paper to canvas, his work began to present more evidence of both the emotion of the heart and the discipline of the brain. Over these past 20 years, Schlussel evolved and has developed a unique style that expresses the power of emotion through his use of texture, shape, and color. Schlussel loves to use the power of color, or in many instances, the absence of it, to express his inner soul in his works. Each of his works speaks differently to the observer allowing the viewer to experience the painting from their unique life experience.
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The vitality of Schlussel’s works is that as the observer grows in their life experience, the interpretation and meaning of the painting will grow with them.
