Photo of the Month

Mired, East Long Island; By Dalton Portella

Mired

Mired
Mired
48″ x 72″
Digital C-Print on Dibond
No Picnic Series

By © Dalton Portella

My process on the Picnic Table series and a lot of my other work is to create images that inspire thought. These images are created digitally, combining different images to create a story.

The winter shots capture the beauty and isolation and drama of life on the east end of Long Island. A view of the beach that the general public does not get to experience. My Montauk.

My concept is to challenge the definition of painting by blurring the distinctions of medium. By marrying different mediums, a metaphor emerges for what I see as necessary in order for our society to survive – the acceptance of differing philosophies. In art, the acceptance of new technologies and mediums is essential for innovation and growth.

With my art, I capture essence; the essence of places I’ve been, emotions I’ve felt and the subjects I paint and photograph. I portray the broad range of the human experience.

I use my art to demonstrate that all is connected. one piece will feed the next, common elements appear in a series, across a variety of mediums. A watercolor will turn into a digital piece, which will in turn become a work on canvas. A work on canvas will be combined with photography and transferred to paper where it will then be worked on with pastel, showing how a change in texture, composition, size, medium or the mark will change our response to the piece. This enables me to explore all the elements that I find important for my art, using all the tools at my disposal.

With this concept in mind, I create images that invite the viewer to trace the image’s origins and inspiration. I invite the viewer to follow the transformation of a watercolor to an oil painting to a digital piece. I invite them to conjure up their own interpretations. I don’t want to explain my personal view of a particular piece until they’ve explored their interpretation.

I want the work to provoke thought and evoke emotion.