My art is really my attempt at understanding what feeds my own soul, and why it does. It’s one thing to simply just enjoy the view. I have the need at times to dissect that view with my own hands… in essence recreating it myself. What I end up with is usually an illumination of the literal, which can expose aspects of a subject to me (and others) that were not obvious initially.

The decision was made from an early age that art would be the most influential source of my life’s energy. Actually, it was never really a “decision”… it’s just the way it is, and always has been. Probably the first time that I realized what drawing pictures meant to me was way back during my first few days of kindergarten in Chicago, where our teacher would assign each of us to a different activity at the beginning of each day. Through the luck of the draw, I got to play with crayons those first few days. No problem there… it was a fun, comfortable activity that seemed to make the day glide by. And, despite my initial embarrassment, the teacher would often take the time to praise my “pieces” in front of the rest of class. Doing art, I figured out quickly, gave me my first taste of self respect. But when I was eventually told to do something else, every part of me rejected it… to the point of forcing the teacher to physically drag me from my box

Fortunately, I was blessed with a mother and father who recognized and nurtured my passion with loads of encouragement. We had the Art Institute of Chicago nearby, with it’s amazing collection of work from some of the true masters. Even though neither of them dabbled in formally creating art, my parents nevertheless had enough enthusiasm and respect for the arts and beauty in general to expose my eyes to some profoundly influential things. Every pencil line or brushstroke from my hand is derived through them.

My education was directed at doing commercial work; it made the most sense to attempt to parlay my interests into something that could provide an income down the road. The drawback, which I discovered midway through getting a BFA in Advertising Illustration, was that the final results of creating commercial art were not truly mine. As a professional illustrator, I relied upon art directors to tell me what, how, and when to paint. After a few years of trying to work within these constraints, I learned that all aspects of my art must come from my own expression. For my work to be conceived through the art of trying to sell something commercially, well… to put it mildly, I felt very little artistic pride in what I was creating. This may sound a bit hypocritical coming from someone who works in a very photo-realistic style, since I rely more heavily on the literal view of a subject than an expressionistic one. But that is and always has been how I naturally prefer to work. At least I am the one dictating how I paint or draw. I believe very strongly in the importance of continued growth and progression as an artist. Each new piece must have some form of “ground-breaking” taking place within it for me, be it technical, compositional or spiritual, in order for me to feel good about it.

Now, parlaying that level of artistic freedom into making a living is a whole different and more difficult challenge. But financially profitable or not, it is always spiritually profitable. That is what is most important to me. Gratefully, in 1994 I met and fell in love with someone who believes in these same virtues: my wife Lynne. She has been my soul mate and guiding force ever since we met, and has provided me with the freedom and encouragement to create from my heart, in addition to taking on the responsibilities of keeping a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. She is responsible for clearing my path of the day-to-day reparations required to living a responsible life, so that my heart and mind are clear enough to dedicate the hours of the day to my passion. Her spirit resides deep within everything that I accomplish as an artist… We currently live happily on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Please contact me to order a painting, drawing, signed print or to discuss commission work

Bob Fassl
General Delivery
Port Renfrew, B.C. Canada V0S-1K0
EMAIL : bobfassl@islandnet.com