George Petrella

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To answer the question “why does an artist choose to do what he does,” one needs to answer the question “what has influenced him in his life?” And of course the answers to that question can be complicated and varied. It would take a lifetime to examine everything that has influenced me, but perhaps the following will capture the heart of what has put me where I am today.

I grew up in Chautauqua County, NY. Being raised in a rural area as opposed to an urban one certainly influences one’s view of the world. As a youth I took oil painting lessons from local landscape painter Raymond Baker. I think it’s safe to say the seven years I spent working with Mr. Baker were the single most significant impetus to my entire professional career. I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher, but without Mr. Baker’s influence I probably would have taught a subject other than art.

After graduating high school in 1970, I first attended SUNY Fredonia (a culturally interesting period,) before getting my BS in Art Education from SUC at Buffalo in 1975. This included a semester in Siena, Italy. I was fortunate to have professors who were also internationally renowned artists. These included Lawrence Urbscheit, Joseph Piccillo, Swietlan Kraczyna, and the Art Trail’s own, Marvin Bjurlin. Working with Mr. Kraczyna in his home in the hilly olive orchards outside of Firenze was one of the most profound experiences of my life. In addition to those gentlemen the professor who had the most influence on my current work was Buffalo State’s Saul J. Horowitz. It was he who taught me many of the techniques I use today. It was also Mr. Horowitz who suggested I try portraits.

After college I taught one year on Long Island before returning to western New York. I spent 31 years at Brocton Central School until retiring in 2007. I’ve always considered myself an instructor first, an artist second. When I wasn’t in the classroom I was in the gym or out on the ball field coaching. I’ve spent my entire adult life teaching others how to be accomplished in skills, whether they were with a paintbrush or a baseball glove. I stressed technique in my teaching and I feel my artwork is primarily about technique. I believe my creativity is in finding solutions to technical problems. I often repaint an area many times until I’m satisfied with what I see.

In looking at my work it should not come as a surprise that I’ve been influenced by the fine linear detail of the Northern Renaissance painters, Albrecht Dürer and Jan Van Eyck in particular. Combine this with my strong love for surrealism, the dreamscapes of Salvador Dali and Max Ernst during his organic period, and you get the essence of what I’m trying to capture. The intention is not to replicate photographic reality; the images should be painterly. That said, in the spirit of the surrealists I want to go “beyond reality.” I had been a landscape painter before trying portraiture. Although I continue to paint landscapes, I look at my Native American portraits as landscapes of the face.