Steve Mizel

Artist Statement

My art is a reflection of the varied paths along which my life has taken me as well as the influence of artists such as Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Jules Olitski, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Jon Schueler and Robert Rauschenberg. Each work touches on themes of time, memory, and emotion.  Although generally abstract in nature, a number of my works are dedicated to an exploration of an emotional response to landscape and sky. 

I strive to make sure that each work has two fundamental characteristics: spirit and movement. By spirit, I mean that each work tells an interesting story, but not the entire story. If the work is successful, it engages the viewer—who then completes the story or invents their own as they respond in a kind of ongoing nonverbal conversation with the work. When I work on a painting, I love the process of moving paint across the canvas, pushing it forward, drawing it back, selectively removing it, mixing it such that each color embraces its neighboring colors. If things go well, colors appear to float above foundational forms.  At the end, hopefully, the work is alive. Everything is in motion. Everything becomes possible.

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Artist Bio

Steve Mizel was born and raised in San Francisco, CA.  He received his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD at Stanford School of Medicine.  In 1985, he moved to Winston Salem, NC where he joined the School of Medicine faculty.  He has been active in the Winston Salem art community for a number of years.  Mizel studied printmaking with David Faber at Wake Forest University and was selected to attend a printmaking workshop at Crown Point Press (San Francisco), one of the leading printmaking studios in the world.  He has exhibited his work nationally in several juried exhibitions.  Currently, he is focusing on acrylic painting on canvas and paper with occasional leaps into collage.

Exhibits of Note

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