Digital collage paintings by artist and teacher Robert Masla will be on view at the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts from July 21 through October 18, 2009.
Masla’s collages juxtapose contemporary art tools such as the digital camera and Photoshop software program with painterly techniques that he has cultivated over his 30 year career.
Robert Masla – “the Doors of Fortulity” 2008 Digital collage painting, Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
By printing and painting on the canvas, Masla creates work that is both abstract and hyper-realistic. He keeps the viewer engaged by alternating passages of painted texture with images of everyday objects in his work. At times it is a challenge to discern between the painted and the digitally enhanced areas.
The integration of old and new reflects Masla’s philosophy that that the there are no rules and that each artist should use whatever tools are available for his or her creative expression. A student of Alton S. Tobey, Masla learned to paint in a realistic manner and to use his own photographs as resource material at an early age. The exhibition Mixing It Up is a culmination of many years of work and integrates his early lessons with contemporary thought and expression. His quest for personal truth and his ever-evolving spiritual life continue to inform his work.
The Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts is located on the Quadrangle at 21 Edwards Street in downtown Springfield. Free parking is available in the Edwards Street parking lots. Summer hours through August 31 are Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and college students, $5 for children 3-17, and free for children under three and museum members. General admission is free for Springfield residents with proof of address. The fee provides admission to all four museums.
www.springfieldmuseums.org
