Painter Steven Beseler is VIVA’s Guest Artist for August!

Artist Statement

 A self-taught artist from La Crosse, I have always had a passion for history and reading, finding beauty in the creativity and musicality of myths and legends. I try to capture and paint worlds that seem natural, but with a hint of history and fantasy to provoke a thought of the peculiar familiarity of unknown locations. Some of my works do have a story, but I enjoy simply placing the viewer in a world for them to go on their own adventure and forge their own path. Whether my work takes you to slow streams or mountain peaks, where legends become real, I attempt to reveal the understanding that all creativity begins with fragments of reality. Many of my works are placed in fantastical lands yet all that sometimes remains are the bones of the fantasy. 

Through these bits of intrigue, I hope to provide the opportunity for a little adventure to the viewer and a desire to know more about, or even be in, another world. 

Steven answers some fun questions:

Why did you decide to work in your chosen medium? 

I have been using oils for nearly seven years now and I adore it. Before that I was using acrylics and would get frustrated at how fast it would dry and my partner had some old oil paints and I tried them out. Since then it is difficult to go back to acrylics only because oil allows me to develop a painting over a period of time. Even before acrylics I was using calligraphy pens and inkwells on parchment paper to make scenes and that was the genesis of the journey.  

How do you know when a piece of work is finished? 

Certainly one of the biggest challenges is knowing when that is but it is more of a feeling rather than making sure you have everything you wanted to paint in the final stage. It is a learning curve to realize that less can be more. I wanted to spend so much time on little details when I realized when I stepped back you could not even see them anyway. When you get to a point where you feel the painting is missing something you take a bravery test and that can make all the difference in the piece. 

What’s the most indispensable item in your studio?

 I thought about this question a lot and I have to say SPACE. I mean not only just the place to do the work, but an area where I can be almost entirely alone and focused. The space where I can be completely in my own mind is very important. That is something I think all creators can agree that having that "space" to feel totally comfortable is as important as the brushes or the canvas.  

Who or what has strongly influenced your work? 

I feel that all my life I have been influenced creatively and artistically without even realizing it. When I started using oils Bob Ross was incredible to listen to and learn how to even begin painting seriously.  I never really followed an artist or style until I embarked on this endeavor and when I discovered the Romantic painters and the Romantic style I was hooked. Johann Christian Dahl and his works to me really opened up something within me and blending my creativity, my passion for history, music, stories has led to making little moments in my paintings.  I think the idea of that style gets translated in my mind into something different on the canvas but perhaps elements of that style are there. I can certainly feel it when I look at my works or when I am making them as they have a story about a moment in that time and place. 

- Steven’s studio