J. Steven Manolis (b. 1948-)
Biscayne Bay Sunrise, 2014
Acrylic on Canvas
84 x 96 inches
Framed Dimensions: 87h x 99w x 3.50d inches
Framed in a Guggenheim natural wood floating frame.
Manolis is a resident of Miami, Florida and is captivated by its beauty.
Nature is “God’s art,” according Manolis. Manolis’ nature abstractions are his exploration of his relationship with nature and man's relationship with nature. He also uses his abstractions as a warning to man about climate change and protecting nature. He has created a number of Nature abstraction and tropical abstraction to explore this.
This painting has at least 50 layers of over and under layers. "I paint in “layers," whether that be watercolor on paper, or vitreous acrylic on canvas, the process of every painting is governed by a waiting time period, from the drying of one layer to the application of the next.
So time, even if only measured in short increments – minutes and hours – also dictates every aspect of my painting (and therefore) life. Yet, within this experience of time dominating everything, I am able to experience the transcendental feeling of timelessness when I paint."
Manolis, is an American abstract expressionist artist who paints in both watercolors and acrylics on canvas. He studied for 30 years under the tutelage of world renown colorist and former student of Hans Hofman, Wolf Kahn (1927-2020).
Donald Kuspit, a leading art critic, would go on to write about Manolis, "When it comes to Color, and the intellectual pursuit of ‘Communicating Through Color,’ Wassily Kandinsky’s long-awaited heir-to-be is J. Steven Manolis, whose works signal an ebullient 21st-century renaissance of the long-absent glories of Abstract Expressionism.”