Tanya Gomelskaya

While preparing for her upcoming solo exhibition, SKIN DEEP, we managed to pull Tanya Gomelskaya away from her creations long enough to answer a few questions so we can get to know this fascinating artist a little bit better.

Catching Light, 2021

oil on wood

12 X 12 in

Why have you decided to become an artist? Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were an artist?

I have always loved painting, as far back as I can remember. My mother and sister are also very artistic so I was heavily influenced by them. Yet as I got older, I started making excuses as to why I shouldn’t be an artist. For some reason I thought an art career wasn’t attainable for me so I repressed it for the longest time.

I was working as a dental assistant/receptionist when I met my husband almost 10 years ago. During my lunch breaks I would create elaborate war scenes out of my sandwich foil and send him pictures that would blow him away. Whenever I had a free moment I would write poems because they were easier to hide from my boss than drawings were, and on days when I was alone in the office  I would illustrate them. My husband immediately saw my potential and said “What on earth are you doing here? Quit tomorrow and be an artist already, what are you waiting for?” 

So I quit, and that’s when my journey began.

I absolutely love that. How wonderful it is to have someone so supportive in your life who recognizes your talents.

What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

I worked as a dental assistant, bartender, freelance graphic designer, art teacher at a few small private schools and at one point had my own drink and paint business. 

What are your ideal working conditions ?

My studio is in my home so I like to roll out of bed and get straight to work. Once I have my concept in mind and my photoshoots are finished, I’ll set up with some music, a podcast, or a documentary and start working. My paintings are never stationary. They often move around the studio whenever I feel inspired to set up in a different spot. Even my largest works have traveled to various rooms because, though I can’t explain it, sometimes they just felt better against a different wall. 

I need my supplies to always be easily accessible in the case that inspiration strikes at an odd hour.  Sometimes when I’m unwinding at night, I’ll take a small painting on my lap while I’m sitting on the couch and paint leisurely while watching TV. 

What’s your background? Do you have a formal art education or are you self taught?

I studied at SUNY Purchase University but most of my growth has been through practice on my own. During my four years at Purchase I don’t think I was ever really creating for myself, but more so for my professors.  After graduation I was so burnt out that I stopped painting completely for a few years. School seemed to suck the fun out of it for me and I had to find that passion again on my own.  

When I finally started again it was like I opened the floodgates and all these ideas started pouring out. I was painting 10 hours a day non stop. During this time I learned the most.

How has your work changed over time? Has your skill or ideology changed?

My work has changed drastically over time and things really started to accelerate in 2018. Up until that point art school seemed to have engrained rules into my head about what I should or should not be doing. One day I decided to experiment with new materials but I couldn’t figure out if they would work. After doing tons of research with no outcome I came across a successful artist on instagram using those same materials so I sent him a message. I wrote out a whole novel asking all these questions and he simply replied with “ I don’t know, I just did it.” That 2 second exchange was enough to alter my entire practice. I was blown away at the freedom and how easy going it all was, and thought to myself wait… I want that. All those rules I was holding onto disappeared and since then the experimenting hasn’t stopped.

Roses Are Red, 2021, private collection

oil, spray paint, resin, and artificial roses on linen

20 X 24in

Where do you find inspiration?

I usually get inspired while I’m working on a painting. A twist or turn in my process will spark a new idea which I tuck away for the next piece. By the time I’m finished with the current painting, there's already a new one ready to go. I love painting skin, it’s an endless inspiration for me. Also, as frames are often incorporated into the paintings, when I go to antique shops or estate sales sometimes I’ll find incredible frames that will inspire the pieces. 

Baby Teeth, 2021

oil on wood, frame

15 X 29 in

What do you think are your strongest abilities contributing to the success of your work?

Persistence, eagerness to learn, and self perseverance. The hardest thing to do is continue to work when you hear “no”. It’s so easy to get discouraged and fall victim to the inner critique that says “you’re not good enough”. Though I’m not completely immune to this, what I’ve realized is when something makes me THIS happy, no one can take it away from me, so I just keep going. When I look at other incredible artists I don’t get discouraged, I get excited because I see all the possibilities ahead If I just keep going. 

When I was little my dad promised me that one day we’d go on a treasure hunt. I think about that all the time when I work, because it feels like I’m on a treasure hunt. There's still so much to learn and to discover. 

This might be a strange question, but I always find the answers interesting. What’s your clearest memory from your childhood?

I remember being in Russia, so I must have been five years old or younger. I was sitting on the floor with my dad listening to fairy tales on a record player holding a little black guitar and strumming along to the songs that were playing. We must have listened to it hundreds of times before because I can still hear the narrator’s voice so clearly. It's a very brief memory but I remember feelings of wonder, comfort, and happiness. The colors black and red also stick out vividly. 

Weldon Ryan

Meet Weldon Ryan!

Weldon Ryan in his studio with “Selfie in Red”, 2021, oil on canvas in progress

Why have you decided to become an artist? 

Art is who I am. Every fiber of my body wants to create art.  I’m driven to be an artist with every breath I take.  I’m so compelled by visuals I see daily. I look at form light and color and analyze how I can interpret this through paint. 

Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were an artist?

I knew I was an artist when everyone in grade school asked me to draw them something.  Being one of the best artists in the 7th grade and finally understanding I had ability to translate a visual language I wanted to pursue more knowledge in art to be draw and paint.

What are your ideal conditions for working on your art?

I prefer to work in a controlled setting.  I work on a 4x8x3 foot moving wall built to paint.  I place canvas on two sides to allow storage and areas to work on multiple works.  I work with music to energize me.

“Slayah”, 2020, oil on canvas

What’s your background?

I have an A.A. degree in General Illustration from The Fashion Institute of Technology.  In the 80’s I said to myself knowledge is what I want and not a degree, so I bypassed the BA degree.  I figured I want to be able to eat through my commercial illustrative success and not teach. So I took a class with Jack Faragasso at the Art Students League briefly to improve my painting/ illustration skills.  I also took classes in drawing at FIT with comic book great Gene Colan to sharpen storyboard ability and paste-up art as well as marker comps and computer graphics before CGI took off.  I pounded the pavement with “drops off’s” dropping my portfolio at major paperback books publishers.  But I had a tough time getting jobs with covers.  So I worked for the NYC Parks Department as an Urban Park Ranger. With my drawing skills I worked as a Detective doing forensic work for NYC Police Department while I pursued freelance.  Strange as it seems, I did art every non art related job I landed outside of Illustration. I spent 20 yrs working civil service.  Ten of those years were spent doing forensic drawings on computer and with graphite. Now I’m a fine artist with reduced stress. I curate shows with my wife, Richlin, at Bethune Cookman University Shoot Caribbean Carnivals and paint.

 How do you feel about th eexpression “self taught”? 

I went to The High School of Art and Design and was fortunate to have Max Ginsburg in my senior year as my painting teacher.  It was a good introduction to painting oils.  Class was too short to really take off.  I tried painting in the morning before school started.  It was voluntary.  This morning session was affectionately called ”The old hats club”.  I attended The Fashion Institute of Technology for my A.A. When I hear the phrase self-taught I pause because I believe every artist searches for knowledge for themselves to improve.  This is self teaching.  Bob Handville and Barbara Nessim; both my professors at F.I.T., always said artists constantly seek to improve their skills and knowledge just like doctors.

Are there any artists you’d like to study with from the past or present?

Studying with Frank J. Reilly would be a ideal as an artist from the past. His understanding of color, value and form is the foundation for today’s illustrators.  I’ve studied with man great artists already.

What’s the most important or most memorable advice you’ve been given about your creation techniques?

The best advice I have been given as an artist was “Work is only as good as your reference”.  

What research do you do when beginning a new piece?

I round up my son, wife and daughters to go to events to take pictures for my paintings.  I set up and take photos that I find necessary images to assist me in doing the work.  I find that it is important to be accurate in most paintings.

How has your work changed over time? 

For years I’ve pursued painting realism.  It’s been torturous.  I became a slave to photographs.  I realized that I had to become accepting of where I am with my skills.  Once I became accepting, my skills improve in the realism realm.  I paint what I see with an understanding that I also must rely on my knowledge of anatomy to gain understanding of what I see.

I consider myself a realism painter in a contemporary state of realism.  Old school rules can be broken to achieve elements of the rules of art.

Weldon Ryan at work in his studio.

What themes do you find most interesting?

I love painting everyday life.  I’m a historian who documents through my art. I particularly enjoy painting the West Indian Carnival celebration because it’s the best of both worlds.  I paint costumes and the human form coupled with expressions and faces. 

Who is your favorite artist? 

I have many artist I favor for particular reasons.  I love Boris because of his strength in his figures with regard to anatomy and his use of color contouring and sculpting the human form with fantasy art.  I adore Leo and Diane Dillon and their pageantry and storytelling, John Singer Sergeant with his colors and brush stroke and Norman Rockwell as one of the greatest illustrator to ever lived.  

“PO Smith”, 2018, oil on canvas

What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

I’ve done many jobs in my lifetime!  I worked as a NYC Park Ranger doing nature centers with Murals.  But most significantly, I was a police officer working in the one of toughest neighborhood in NYC.  I was then appointed to the Forensic Art Unit because of my skill.  I sit back since retired from NYPD and think, my art helped solve hundreds of homicides, robberies and rape cases.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I’ve had people I’ve painted from my Caribbean Carnival series recognize themselves get in touch with me full of joy and excitement that they are in my paintings.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration from all sources.  A person’s face or the way the wind blows a tree branch may inspire me.  I find it from music or music videos or from a clever statement made from someone.

“Fences”, 2020, oil on canvas

What do you dislike most about the art world? 

I find that the art world compares to professional sports.  There are so many talented artists but only a minute few hit the big time.  

Do the arts have a place in politics?

Art creates dialog and helps affect change in politics.  Many years ago I read a book on subliminal seduction.  Images create change.

Shelah Horvitz

1. Why have you decided to become an artist? Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were an artist? 

You don’t really decide to be an artist. You decide on your medium, your technique, your subject matter, etc., but if making art is how you come to understand the world and process your experiences, you’re an artist, whether you’re good or not. You’re born that way. I knew from childhood that making art was the only activity I thought mattered. In high school it was a toss-up whether I would become a writer or a painter because I won prizes for both. I went to Brown to train as a writer but also took their art curriculum. At Brown, they did not teach me how to write or paint but what was acceptable Modernist subject matter and approach, both as a writer and as a painter, and I rebelled against that because I didn’t share their values. Their criticisms dried me up as a writer for 30 years, but I still got visions, so I could still paint. That is why I became a painter. 

2. What’s your background? Do you have a formal art education or are you self taught? 

I have a formal art education and I am self-taught. 

3. What’s the most important or most memorable advice you’ve been given about either your creation techniques or in marketing yourself? 

There are many art worlds. Find your people. It does not matter how good you get if what you want your work to achieve does not match what the art world values. You have to find the art world that values what you want your work to achieve. Before Instagram, finding your art world was a very difficult thing. On Instagram, once I found artists I liked, I started following people who they followed if I liked their work, and that led me to whole worlds I didn’t know existed. 

4. What’s your clearest memory from your childhood?  

A shaft of light on a white oak floor, a parallelogram of gold against the grey-blue shadow, and I think to myself, “Today I’m three.” 

5. What themes do you find most interesting?

In my family, who I was supposed to be, what I was supposed to do for a living, who I was supposed to marry, where I was supposed to live, all my beliefs and values, everything that was to make up my identity had already been dictated to me, and it was not a fit. Even after I left the family, I found that given my gender, class and race, society imposed all these expectations of me, of my values and my behavior, that didn’t fit. I wasn’t that person and I didn’t want to twist myself to become someone else’s idea of who I should be. To figure out my identity, I have had to invent the wheel, so to speak. I realize that every piece I’ve ever painted, whether they’re paintings of people or animals or landscapes, they have all been tools to find out who I am and what can I be. One of the most important pieces I’ve ever done is a triptych painted at 23: the archetypes Virgin, Madonna, and Whore, that were imposed on me from without, and I had to pick who would I be. Then over the years, making my living in technology, I needed balance from nature, so I painted animals — what does the coyote have to teach me? The sparrow? I journeyed in, became the coyote, became the sparrow, saw the world through their eyes, came out changed. When I got older, what do the trees have to teach me, the mountains? Older still, does the archetype of crone fit? I tried it on, pretty limiting! But I journeyed in and came out the other side. Now I ask one of the same questions I’ve been asking all my life: who do I want to be as a woman? Clint Eastwood spent his entire life making film after film exploring what it means to be a man and what kind of man he wanted to be. But who is doing that for women? There are so few images of who and what a woman can be if she is to be self-actualized, balanced in anima and animus, not an object onto which men’s fears and desires are projected but an adult with her own agenda. When I was a teenager I needed a female role model and there were none. I have since seen women in popular culture who I would call “lesser men,” and that’s not an answer to me either. What would a female role model look like? What is a female hero? A blend of hard and soft. What do I value now and what do I wish I had as a role model when I was young? Bowie’s question: “Who can I be now?” 

6. Who is your favorite artist? 

 Ah! That changes almost daily. Of painters, Daniel Sprick, Mitch Griffiths, François Bard, Dozier Bell, Aleah Chapin, Isaak Levitan, Will St. John, Colleen Barry, Dino Valls. But over my life this has been a cast of hundreds. That said, some of the most important artists to me have been David Bowie and Bob Dylan. Both refused to let others define them. Both tried on numerous identities for size and proved you can get away with anything as long as you do it with style. Both tried to use their work to make their audiences think, to question their values, to change the world. And both relentlessly experimented, for decades, endured long periods when the experiments failed and their work was disparaged, yet they hung in there and continued to produce interesting, beautiful and relevant work throughout their lives. They’re brave and tenacious. I keep coming back to these guys, over and over. They are my real role models. 

7. What jobs have you done other than being an artist? 

A better question might be what jobs have I not done? I have done innumerable different kinds of jobs in order to survive. What lasted longest was my 25 years as software engineer. I chose this field because software is something the larger culture values, and when I went into it there was enough of a shortage of engineers that they would actually hire women and pay them a living wage. 

8. What memorable responses have you had to your work? 

The most memorable responses I received were to the Thoughtcrime series of paintings and essays I did in the late 1990s and posted on the Internet. In this series, I created a number of memes before Internet memes existed, and they were designed to challenge societal constraints about women’s roles. For this I got a number of death threats, but I also received enthusiastic letters from young women who were incredibly grateful that they had found someone who felt the same way. Essentially I had given them the courage to walk their own paths. It doesn’t get any better than that. 

9. Where do you find inspiration? 

Usually in the bathroom, when I’m taking a shower. That’s where I get most of my visions. Glibness aside, I get a lot of my ideas — the conceptual underpinnings — from film and popular music. As to technical inspiration, I might look at another painter and admire how they handled composition or shapes or how they rendered, but I see these technical qualities as tools and not an end, and they never inspire a work. If I admire how they’ve handled both concept and execution, as I do for instance with Aleah Chapin or Daniel Sprick, they’ve grabbed that territory so by definition I can’t emulate their work, but I can emulate their approach. This is why I like to get my inspiration from different media other than painting, because then I have to translate the idea to painting. My ideas are always conceptual, and often they come out of reading. Gender studies, media studies, the news, anything that gets me thinking. A vision may crystallize the concept, and then I’ll look for image sources to back up my vision. I like best to take photos and work from them but often I can’t so I’ll grab images from films or internet searches and use so many that I’m not really copying any of them. 

10. What do you think are your strongest abilities contributing to the success of your work? 

I have strong conceptual underpinnings and long and varied life experiences. My work has real depth and asks questions that matter. Every piece is designed to touch both the lightness and the shadow of your own psyche. Every piece is designed so you will read it differently in different moods, at different times of your life. I paint for people who enjoy work that makes them both feel and think. 

11. What role do you think the artist has in today’s society? 

From Cesar A. Cruz: “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” This job of the artist is a sacred mission. 

12. What couldn’t you do without? 

Silence. A place where I can be myself. An intelligent friend with whom I can ask questions that matter. Truth. Integrity. Honor. The love and support of my two best friends, one of whom is my husband. Somewhere to get my artwork seen, so it can affect the world.