Artsmack

John J. Donato

Painting

38234 Sandy Cove Road
Ocean View, DE 19970

302-604-4209
artophonic@yahoo.com
www.artsmack.com

Studio Hours

By Appointment.

Artist Statement

I grew up Southern New Jersey where I spent my youth playing and working on our family's apple and peach farm.  Farm life allowed me to spend most of my day outdoors free to observe and study animals.  During that time I developed a deep respect for wildlife and began to differentiate animals by their distinct personalities, expressions and traits.  I paid particular attention to how animals express social joy.  

Eventually I left the farm for a degree in Graphic Design at the University of Maryland in College Park.  The curriculum at the time was an intense, multi-disciplined mix of artistic and illustrative techniques along with photography, graphic design, and color theory which allowed me to experiment with a wide range of media art forms.  This training was primarily focused on teaching us to use visual tools to share information and summon emotion with split-second accuracy and long-term impact.

For two decades I continued honing my fine art skills while working in corporate marketing.  Experimenting over time with several media forms I was eventually drawn back full circle to my passion for wildlife, color and joyful expression.   Eventually I latticed many techniques I had internalized over the years with vivid complimentary pigments to create whimsical animal caricatures with point-blank "smile impact." This approach is a style I call "AnimArt" which mixes flailing yet controlled acrylic splashes of complimentary color with happy animal charm.

"Rocketworm," "JD Piglet" and "Fat Cat" are triumphant, joyful stories of animal self awareness and determination whereas "Lone Buzzard" and "Sea Turtle" are colorful yet simple expressions of harmony  and self content.

All embody the values every human seeks to obtain.  Each with a unique capacity to deliver "smile impact" through a frozen moment of time in the life of animals we tend to take for granted as commodities.