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~Biography~ Sebastian was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised just north of Seattle, Washington. He started drawing at a very early age, driven by his love of comic book art, Pacific Northwest Native American art and myths and American artists like Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent as well as many fantasy and science fiction illustrators. Sebastian graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 1989 with a BA in Illustration. While studying illustration, he discovered a deep love of figurative drawing and painting from the live model which he continues to the present day, holding a weekly Tuesday evening drawing session at his home studio in Oakland. These sessions, which have been ongoing since 1996, are attended by many local artists, both professional and amature. He also is an active Plein Air painter, venturing around the Bay area and beyond. Artist Statement My figures reside in a posited reality outside of human sense, a metaphysical space – an environment of spirit and being. Often, instead of completing the models’ portraits, I give them animal skulls, creating images that work as a springboard to that posited reality and also to imaginative speculation: What is the relationship between these figures, between life and Death, animal and human, bone and flesh? I find the shapes and forms of skulls infinitely interesting and beautiful. They add something provocative and fascinating to my paintings. I find that the symbolic juxtaposition of animal skulls and the human form capture the beauty and mystery of both in an otherworldly space and environment. |
Exhibition History2013: Dia de los Muertos, Peoria Art Guild, Peoria, Il "Bring Us Your Dead" Dia de los Muertos, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna, CA. Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century - National juried show, juror Clint Brown, Clatsop Community College Gallery, Astoria, OR. Sub Mission Art Space 2010 - Group show Periscope Cellars: 2010/ Sci Fi - Group Show Bay Area Models Guild: Worth Ryder Gallery, Cal Berkeley, 2004 - Group show Cafe Abo: San Francisco - Solo show Base Art Gallery - Group show (Figurative) Somar Gallery: Group show sponsored by Bay Area Models Guild SF, CA 2000 Gallery 101: San Francisco CA 2000 Open studios: San Francisco - Hunter Point 1998 Open Studios: Oakland - home Studio 1997 Open studios: San Francisco - Home Studio 1992 Vesuvio's cafe: North beach 1991 Tart to Tart: Irving st. 1991 The Metro Hotel & Cafe': Divisadero st. 1990 |
