The Old Guard Painting

Anthony James Rojas is an American painter (b.1981) who lives and practices in the central region of Texas. Energized by the gestural style of Abstract Expressionism, AJ sources inspiration attempting to recreate the immediacy of expression of the unconscious mind, a concept associated with the Surrealist and Dada movements of the early 20th century. Always tapping into natural life and organic shapes consistent with the intuitive mode of Biomorphism, some have found semblance between AJ’s work and the work of late artists such as Joan Miró and Jean Arp. On the grounds of the aforementioned, AJ describes himself as an Abstractionist painter whose work sits in the gray area between Abstraction and Surrealism, and also where the viewer's imagination conjures diverse perceptions. Engaging in Geometric Abstraction from time to time, AJ’s process typically begins with unrehearsed irregular or straight lines placed throughout the canvas. After the initial line placement, he uses his own unique perspective to look into the random lines and find the hidden images he created from his subconscious. Once the compelling lineaments are revealed, he tweaks them into form then adds dense colorations to the canvas with much thought and process. The artist contends that an important feature of his work is to always leave a window open for the viewer to create their own experience with his art. He has always felt that the viewer's perspective of his paintings is of equal importance as his own. Therefore, while he paints he works around the canvas creating relevant perspectives depending on its orientation. As he describes it in his own words “I create the art, but you create the experience”.