A Modern Approach to Realism

“My art journey is kind of an unfulfilled dream of my mum,” said artist Steve Forster, who will be among the faculty members of Realism Live, the best spot for contemporary realism fans, online November 13-15, 2024.

His mother was his pivotal point for his art journey. She studied graphic design at a time when people were starting to use the first computers, so she learned to draw and do things by hand. By doing and learning from her, he fell in love with art. “It was great to spend time together,” the artist said.

Born in Boston and raised in Central Florida where he studied, first at the Florida School of The Arts A.A., then at the University of North Florida, where he earned a BFA in drawing and painting, Steve now lives in Long Island with his wife, sculptor Rebecca Forster.

He began teaching in 2004 and is now co-director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, LIAFA. “I love teaching. It is an important part of my life,” he said.

He was spurred on by his teachers when he was a young boy and among them was Jennifer Hower, who cared about him and wrote a letter of recommendation for the college. A friend of his, an abstract painter, later suggested he study under the court of master artist Daniel Graves, founder of the Florence Academy of Art, one of the most prestigious schools in the world, to study the Old Masters techniques.

“In Italy we seriously experienced the high level of Realism under the guidance of Daniel Graves and Simona Dolce,” said the artist gratefully.

So, after convincing his lifelong friend, artist Stephan Bauman, to follow him to Italy, they left for that great experience, even if, “Honestly, Steve didn’t want to leave with me to Italy,” Steve laughed.

In Florence, in addition to becoming two great artists, they found love: Steve met and married Rebecca, and Stephen Bauman married the painter Cornelia Hernes.

Afterwards masterfully and meticulously learning the fundamentals of art, Steve later decided to experiment a new modern approach to Realism and pursued his master’s degree from the New York Academy Of Art, the school founded by Andy Warhol, where he has been teaching since 2009.

In his career he had numerous collaborations and among them he was studio assistant of Carol Feuerman. He won numerous awards and recognitions, including an award of excellence from the Portrait Society of America.

Known for figurative paintings, in which compositional and narrative styles have a magical quality that harkens back to the greats of history, Steve argues that past and present can coexist in overlapping “layers” that can make a painting more contemporary in terms of civilization. Layers that can be understood technically as part of the process used by the artist, resulting in the three-dimensional construction of the painting, but also layers understood as the multiplicity of meanings with which his works are charged, starting with the single portrait, moving to works related to dualism and trilogy. In the latter, in particular, his female subjects are charged with multiple meanings by taking on metaphors of time and change, of physicality versus spirituality, and so on.

Since his mum passed away, his works are more focused on generational things, different perspectives of life, the continuation of his family’s story.

As far as technique, Steve argues for the importance of drawing as a necessary basis from which to start and without which it is unthinkable to paint. “When you’re searching for a face in paint and you don’t know the base of the drawing, the painting starts to get really layered and crunchy and you ruin the canvas. You have to build a drawing structure before painting it, especially if you are a beginner, especially if you want to realize a realistic portrait.”

With the exception of portraits, demos or art lessons, which he makes mostly with the alla prima technique, in figurative compositions he makes digital studies, with which he experiments with colors, compositions, and contrasts until he defines the final drawing that he transfers to the canvas by hand, in pencil or charcoal.

Once the drawing is finished, he isolates it with Spectrafix or Shellac in such a way as to leave the drawing clearly visible.

“If you paint with a watercolor technique over it, then you can still see your drawing,” he said, explaining that when the surface dries, he then paints over that using the French ébauche technique. This basically consists of using an underpainting, not only in black and white as for the grisaille, but with many different colors, desaturated – done with lower chroma.

Then thanks to the use of the ébauche, he can paint it up a little thicker and add final details with more texture, leaving a more intense color and more contrast which creates a “power of captivation,” emphasized by the sense of unity and diversity that he does with colors and brushstrokes.

“The power of creation in art, and even more in Realism, is such a powerful tool that we have as human beings,” declared the artist who added, “It is up to us to discover and improve it and Realism Live is the best spot ever where to discover it.”

This is part of a series featuring a leader in the art community who is on the faculty of the 5th Annual Realism Live online art conference, November 13-15, 2024 (with an Essential Techniques Day on November 12). Learn more and save your seat at RealismLive.com now.