Interview With the Artist Abraham Mashinsky
Abraham Mashinsky was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions across the country. He is an increasingly acclaimed contemporary artist producing landscape, abstract and impressionist paintings and working in USA.
Q: When and how did your life as an artist begin?
Abraham Mashinsky: I have been painting and drawing for as long as I can remember, but the demands came when I was a teenager and I painted replicas of famous authors and then sold them. I learned a lot from that experience. Upon graduating from high school, I became a student at The Rutgers University, where I studied Fine Arts. After earning my art degree, I started doing art professionally.
Q: Why are you an artist?
Abraham Mashinsky: For the desire to get up every day and do what I really love … feel free, without patterns or obligations imposed by others … be the owner of my time and occupy it by doing something that can be a contribution.
Q: What inspires you?
Abraham Mashinsky: Simple things, so simple that we often don’t see them. I think everything is inspiring. You just have to be attentive to let yourself be inspired.
Q: What are some of the motifs or symbols that you use in your works?
Abraham Mashinsky: The blue sky, the black hair braids, nature, I try to include a variety of ancestral symbols. I also rely a lot on the native people… but not literally, I try to reinterpret their worldview vision. While most of my works emphasize the natural vibrancy and rich colors of the area, some are infused with a tranquil and mysterious beauty.
Q: Do you prefer paint or pastels?
Abraham Mashinsky: I particularly like the rich colour in pastel and find it a wonderful immediate medium to work with in the field. The pastel sticks can be manipulated to portray the abstract shapes and it is ideal for line work as well. Painting is “visual poetry” to me.
Q: Can you describe us your creating process?
Abraham Mashinsky: I don’t worry about the end result of a painting but just enjoy the process of painting itself. I enjoy choosing and mixing colours, the richness of the oil, the flow of the watercolour and the strokes and texture of pastel. It is similar to a meditation for me.
