PRESS RELEASE

“Gestural Abstractions”, an exhibition of paintings by Steven Tritt, Northern Illinois University alum and local artist, will be on display at THE ART BOX, 308 East Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb, from October 1 – 27, 2018.
Tritt is a non-traditional painter who uses a variety of media and materials to create expressive images from his inner experiences. He has several series of expressive abstractions that will eventually emerge from a two-dimensional plane with not exactly beginning a painting with a pre-conceived idea. They eventually are gestural images of portraits, African masks, figure studies, and guitars to name a few that are either separate images or somehow as overlaying compositions.
Different surfaces like watercolor paper, Yupo paper, reclaimed wood, various artist boards, canvas, and Styrofoam will vary the results from mixing the physical aspects of his wet media and dry materials. Any particular surface will create unique resists, textures and unexpected color relationships that will dictate the outcome of his painting. The media and materials he typically uses are latex, tempera, acrylics, pastels, charcoal, graphite, ink, tobacco, sand, and sawdust that will eventually pursue a likely polar theme for a image in regard to relationship and alienation, humor and guilt, beauteousness and ugliness, order and chaos.
Tritt is a 1990 graduate from Northern Illinois University with a Masters of Fine Art degree in painting. His graduate committee was with the auspice of fine art professors Gordon Dorn, John Rooney and David Driesbach; and was also influenced by fine art professors Robert Bornhuetter, Dorothea Bilder and Jack Olson. In 2018 he was accepted into the Contemporary Gallery Program at The Art House in Chicago whose director, Rebecca George, instruct artists how to market themselves and their work; and also encourages a variety of art making techniques.
A reception for the artist is scheduled for Sunday, October 7th from 2 – 4 pm.