Building 10, Studio 1012
Medium: Painting– acrylic
www.billfirestone.com
Artist /business email address: bill@billfirestone.com
Background: Bill has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. After being a graphic designer for several years he worked as a freelance illustrator, for magazines and ad agencies. Also, always doing paintings on the side (usually quite large) he entered a show at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. One of the large paintings of a street scene sold and that implemented a desire to become a full time painter.
Influences: Having been taught by teachers at VCU and the Roanoke Fine Art Center who were both taught by Hans Hofmann, the German Expressionist, that kind of large-scale abstraction has always been a big influence. Also, the work of Richard Diebenkorn, George Bellows and Robert Rauschenberg hold great interest. And as a teacher Bill tries to impart the importance of composition and mixing color.
Artistic Philosophy: A loose,free quality utilizing good drawing skills, composition and contrast characterize this work. The accidental brush stroke enters in too. Rainy day city scenes, rural landscapes and sometimes pure abstraction are constant themes.
