New Works by Van Arno is now on display at The Shooting Gallery.  He took some time on opening day to answer a few questions about his new pieces – check it out!  New Works by Van Arno and Fur & Feathers by Chris Pugliese will be on display at The Shooting Gallery through August 7th, 2024.

1. In these new works, your subject matter centers on famous women literary figures, challenging seemingly static identities of these women.  What informed or inspired your choice of subject?

These works are re-interpretations of known stories and characters from classic literature most of us are forced to read at a young age. They are written in a super- formal style so I wanted this series to be super dramatic interpretations of the characters from these novels. Not necessarily of the plots but of characters most people have some familiarity with.  Take the Camille painting for example, it is from a very morbid scene where this woman is dying, surrounded by bloody hankies.  So after reading that, I decided I really wanted to take this description and, somehow, make a graceful image out of it.

2.  When you begin a new piece, do you have a set idea of what message you aim to convey, or does the conceptual meaning of the piece develop in conjunction with your process?

Rarely, but when it happens it’s great. For the most part I have a plan in mind and I like to stick with it. Certain things change about the paintings, like color, but usually I have a clear idea when I start. Some pieces in the past were just things I thought of and really wanted to paint like, women flying with torches or something. There wasn’t much of a concept I just thought it would be great to paint a series of women flying with torches.

3.  Sin and deviance seem to be predominant themes within your imagery and within the tales of these characters.  How do you grapple with both exposing and redefining such a transgression from normative or appropriate standards, while also maintaining a sense of agency, respectability, and a strong identity for these women?

Justine is a great example of this, because most people would not notice that the beads she is actually swallowing  are coming out of her ass. You’re not really supposed to notice, but when you do, you get what I am trying to convey. I was really striving to avoid any type of pinupy-ness though. Really trying to fight the pin up but not make them cutesy at the same time. That is the challenge of working with live models because they tend to automatically want be pretty and I have to find the balance between these physically attractive women and what I want.

4.  Does your collection speak to a larger theme, or is each piece meant to express its own message?

This series was an evolving idea. It started with Charlotte and wanting to do a show with classic imagery. After that one, I painted Ophelia, which was a super popular theme in the 1800s.  I think I like that I am working with women in classic literature and can create these smaller, individual pieces for each one because I am not going to be doing smaller paintings in the future. The small pieces are nice because they are more affordable but, I want to work on a larger scale like the Ophelia piece which is 48×24” its really nice to have breaks within the painting, it allows for people to breath and not have everything so concentrated.

5.  How has your artistic process and style developed throughout your career, and where do you feel it currently stands?  Could you to speak to this in relation to what you self-label as “Uber-Mannerism?”

Working with different mediums has really allowed me to develop my style. When I started, I was working with acrylics, which are more expressive and bright. Oil has allowed me to make more nuance, serious work and, working with live models which helped my work a lot. Over time I achieved a balance from trying to get a model to do extreme movements that look simple, but that in reality, are difficult. Trying different things is important and allows for more range; I am pretty far into my career, however, that even when I do try new things many people can’t tell (laughs). I would like to have more fun with the brush strokes though, more expressive and try new colors.

6.  Coming from Chattanooga, Tennessee, how does your upbringing and early experiences come through in your work?

I actually only lived in Tennessee for 6 months, I just think it’s fun to say that I am from Tennessee, but I actually grew up in St. Louis. There, I went to a religious school from K-12. I’ve done a lot of religious work and people always ask about my beliefs, but it’s more about being able to referencing western art history. I was always really drawn to religious imagery, like the saints and apostles because of how dramatic their stories were. Take Jesus, everyone in western art history has done a painting of Jesus, so it’s more about referencing these people and their stories.

In high school I would do a lot of cartooning but it wasn’t until I was out of high school that I really wanted to be serious about art. I did illustration for 10 years and made decent money doing dumb things, like inspector gadget merchandising, where I would trace inspector gadget onto a towel and get like 600 dollars. I decided I wanted to become serious about being a fine artist and set a goal to have a solo show in 5 years. I came up at a really good time though, now, there are so many artists and so many sub-niches that it’s a lot harder to get noticed.  Back then, the scene was small enough and underground enough that it was fun.