Alan Urban

Artist's Statement: Be an Explorer
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My work is driven by two equal passions. First, experimentation and exploration. The continual search and discovery that, for me, keeps art fresh, exciting, and vital. Secondly, to investigate that illusive place between chaotic random mark-making and viable fine art, hopefully resulting in not only consequential mark making, but also making a meaningful mark!
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When I was younger and just starting out people would ask what I did, and I would say I’m a painter. They would then ask for an estimate to paint their house! So I changed from saying painter to artist. But I quickly found out that everyone is (or can be) an artist. Authors, musicians, actors, and more—anyone in a creative endeavor could be an artist. So I still had explaining to do.
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My father was an inventor and my mother was a hair dresser both owned their own businesses and were very entrepreneurial and successful.

The family tree included my grandmother who was a fashion designer and dressmaker to the Royal House of Austria and my grandfather who was a furrier. After emigrating from Czechoslovakia to America, they both worked for Blums Vogue in Chicago in the 1930’s. And along with a possible rogue or two, the family tree i...

BFA, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
AA, Miami-Dade College, Miami, Florida