Harry Wozniak

Artist Statement

My artwork uses early 20th-Century Modernism and especially Cubism as a springboard through which a visual language of fragmentation, dislocation, movement and energy has evolved.  By representing an assertion of a sense of style through an idiosyncratic interpretation of the subject, and by connecting my own family experience with a love of Art Deco and 1940's through Mid-Century film and fashion, I create vignettes peopled by characters who seem to focus on the hedonistic aspects of life; eating, drinking, smoking, carousing and the objects associated with these types of activities. My paintings will often take on a life of their own, leading me to create a story that is at times playful, at others sinister in a film Noir context, or fraught with innuendo, yet at other times ambiguous. My aim is to get at the character of the subject or situation rather than to concern myself with any literal reality. 
 
Regardless of subject, my materials and methodology remain consistent.  Preferring to paint in a traditional manner using oil on canvas, I rarely do preparatory or preliminary sketches, feeling that the immediacy and freshness of my initial concept get lost in the translation. 
 
I enjoy exploring the idea of the artist as magician, one who creates a reality from a non-reality, one who helps the viewer suspend disbelief, and if what I offer the viewer is engaging, captivating, and believable, then I am gratified. 

Harry Wozniak was a self-taught artist born in Buffalo, NY in 1957.  He subsequently moved to Columbus, Ohio where he spent fourteen years as an active member of the arts community before settling in Western North Carolina.... Harry's work was inspired by Cubism and early 20th-Century Modernism. His paintings focus on hedonistic aspects of life; eating, drinking, indulging and the objects associated with these activities in an energetic play of form, movement and color. He worked predominantly in oil to create his portraits, genre scenes and still life interpretations.  Harry's work has been featured in The Laurel of Asheville magazine, Bold Life magazine, and The Short North Gazette.  His work is included in many private collections in New York, West Palm Beach, Boston, Columbus OH, Asheville NC, Buffalo NY, and Fort Lauderdale FL. (Harry Wozniak | Marcia Evans Gallery)

From figurative work, the self-taught artist also applied his neo-cubist approach to landscapes. He produced a 24-foot-long entryway mural at a rehabilitation center in Columbus, Ohio, where he and his wife, Karen, lived before moving to Hendersonville, North Carolina in 2011.