Hailing from Eatonton, Janice Westfall debuted her exhibit at the Marlor House in Milledgeville April 5.
Westfall is a self-taught artist with more than a decade of experience. In her earlier days, her artwork was in black and white but it has evolved into a blossoming pool of color. The exhibit is a vibrant display of artwork with references to both animals and people.
“My first paintings were black and white. However, when I was trying to research my great-grandfather who was an artist from Germany I came across the founder of spontaneous realism, which is what my exhibit is about,” said Westfall. “While I did not find out more about my grandfather’s specific artwork, I learned a form of art where I could transform my shades of gray into something colorful.”
Spontaneous realism is an abstract form of art that uses various color schemes, brush strokes, and other additives on a realistic image. The founder of spontaneous realism was Austria artist Voka.
According to a featured post by the Lohme Art Gallery in 2019, Voka studied realism but began to paint with watercolor, which showed him the effects of a “more impulsive design.” When Voka later began to paint using acrylics, he combined concepts of the two practices to create the foundation for spontaneous realism.
“Voka is still using a subject when he begins a painting, but reproducing it as perceived by the eye is no longer relevant to him. Whether he is making a portrait or a landscape, the motif is now just a vague point of reference, the process itself is what defines the finished painting,” according to the Lohme, in Malmo, Sweden.
“Contrasts that arise, the direction of the brushstrokes, how the color flows over the canvas, all parts of the process are an intimate interaction between Voka and the execution itself.”
Westfall told The Baldwin Bulletin that her process has that same intimate connection. She often uses multiple points of reference to begin her painting but allows the colors and brush strokes to flow from herself to create the final image.
“I usually combine several images together to create a finished piece but most of my work is done through commissions,” said Westfall. “A lot of times it is memorial art because color brings life back into the memory or emotions surrounding the subject.”
During the reception, she told the audience about “Volcano Slam Hyah,” a piece featuring a Tyrannosaurus rex as its focus. The reference was chosen by Westfall’s son and later named by him. The artwork has a bleeding orange and red background to its left side and a purple and green mix of color on the right side and throughout the body of the T-rex. The head of the dinosaur shows the focus on realism in the detail of its scales, teeth, and eyes while the vivid colors and less detailed body showcase more of the spontaneous, vibrant style.
“My son brought me an image of a Tyrannosaurus rex that he thought was really cool. Taking that image, I worked to depict a more realistic version,” said Westfall. “The finished product wasn’t a perfect match to his reference and had some minor differences but it was my son’s concept so he had the honor of naming it.”
Over the years, Westfall’s artwork has been showcased in various states and entered into a variety of art competitions. In partnership with Allied Arts, her artwork will be on display through April 24 in the Marlor House in downtown Milledgeville.