Studio Foronda: Creative Sandbox

I have been selected once again nto the International Biennial Lurzers Archive 200 Best Digital Artists for Left Page: Samsung The Art Frame. Right: “Cease Fire”,Unpublished Editorial. All work - Digital / Mixed Media

Left Page: “Blossoms and Oil” & “Mr. Wobbly”, Samsung The Art Frame. Right Page: “Cease Fire”, Unpublished editorial. All work - Digital / Mixed Media

My spread for Lurzers Archive’s 200 Best Digital Artists. Serendipitously, I received the books and that same night Michelle told me the cease fire ended in Gaza and almost 600 Palestinians died. The piece on the right is called Cease Fire about the war. I am not taking sides with one side or the other based on their religious beliefs. I believe all religions that speak of love, compassion, empathy and interconnectedness give us our humanity. But many times human leaders use religion as a means of causing division, promoting their political and social agenda.

My first internship was for the Baltimore Jewish Times creating editorial illustrations and covers for them. I once did an editorial illustration for an article that Elie Wiesel wrote about Hate Speech. I also have worked for B’nai Brth, and Hadassah Magazine. When I was Creative Director at Startec which was a Telcom in Rockville, MD whose target audience were diverse ethnic communities in cities around the US. This was the first place that I worked where everyone all over the world worked at. I had an amazing and wonderful person as a graphic designer in my team. He was Palestinian. Across the cubicle was an Israeli database developer. Our Palestinian designer would pray and place a rug down at times.

Left Page: “Blossoms and Oil” & “Mr. Wobbly”, Samsung The Art Frame. Right Page: “Cease Fire”, Unpublished editorial. All work - Digital / Mixed Media

In Putnam, I was part of our Interfaith council and had Jewish friends from our local Synagogue. And when the Turkish owners bought Putnam Science Academy, I befriended a man that joined our council to represent the his Islamic faith.

My point is that we are all one species and one interconnected family in this fragile planet. We need to reach down in ourselves and understand how interconnected we are and can learn from the interconnectedness that already exists from our beautiful earth with all its species and sentient beings.

On Aug. 1-14th, we went on vacation to Barcelona, Spain, Marrakesh, Morocco, San Sebastián, Spain, Anglait & Biarritz, France and then to Pau to visit relatives. My cousins came back with us via train from Pau to Barcelona at the end of our trip. Here are some sketches from the trip.

In January of this year (2022) I was asked by the head of UCONN’s (University of Connecticut) library system to have an Exhibit of my Design, Illustration and Artwork in the Homer Babbdige Library. They had me fill the Norman Stephen’s gallery, a large space at the bottom of their main library. This show began as I had 70 pieces at the Eagle Hill school in Hardwick, MA.

The show opening was in April. Unfortunately, me and my family had COVID. The day of the show opening I was feeling fine so they zoomed me into the show with a webcam so I can see everyone. I was able to talk through the LED screen’s speakers but because of the crowd, people could not hear me well. I sat with my iPad in my garage working on a painting that I had wanted to work on for a long time. It was nice to see so many faces through the screen that I hadn’t seen in a while because of the Pandemic.

Fortunately, Ellen allowed me to have a closing reception in August during summer break. The turn out was nice and I was able to see some of my colleagues and friends who had come to the previous opening. Such dedication to my work. I am so lucky.

This large body of work that I have accumulated over the years is a testament to hard work and dedication to my craft. But as I think about the years of work, I feel a shift in my growth as an artist, illustrator and designer. Right now, I am spending time, painting using color, brush strokes, undefined parameters. I am exploring again. I need to boost my energy and re-invent my creative process. It is not that I am stuck. It is a time, now where I want to go in another direction. My previous work has been very political and satirical. I am searching for genuine heart in my art now. We’ll see what the next body of work will bring.

Award Winning Illustrator and Designer, Anthony Foronda will be having his closing reception on Thursday, August, 11th from 5pm – 6:30pm at UCONN’s Homer Babbage Library on the bottom floor Norman Stevens Gallery. Beth Pite will be exhibiting and having her closing on the main floor that evening.

So it’s been a long time that I have painted a large format painting on canvas. I remember the last time I painted an 8 foot tall Evil Red Bunny during the Bush Iraq War years in the early nighties. It was 26 years ago  and I finished It in Florida at an insane time in my life. I ended up throwing the painting away. I think for me it gave a negative vibe that I had a 8 foot devil in my house.

During my years at MICA, (Maryland Institute, College of Art) I would have large figure studio paintings, large charcoal wall drawings, large intense realism paintings and other large format pieces. At the time, I was smoking a lot. I would inevitably smoke a pack of cigarettes in front of a large blank newly gessoed canvas and contemplate my first steps. 

My senior year, I had to produce a body of work for my final senior studio class in Drawing. Although I started the pieces with charcoal rubbing the charcoal around a masonite board, I would inevitably finish the work with acrylic paint and oil washes and pigments. I would approach the work without any foreseen goal but for this time, I found figurative elements within the charcoal washes like looking at clouds and finding faces or Rubenesque bodies. Most of the work was psychotically dark with nude figures in agonizing poses. Maybe the work was looking to the future to the days I lived stressfully in Florida between 1993 and 2000.

I started the Big Red Bunny piece at the tail end of my senior year at MICA and in 1996 finally finished it and hung I in my studio at my home in Gulfport, FL, on the bayside of St.Pete beach.

This past March during my break from teaching, I quit smoking. A thirty year habit started in art school. I quit on March 2nd which was the beginning of lent and a day before my 51st birthday.

Two years earlier, I had purchased some stretchers in the hopes of painting again. But I had gotten so busy and just pushed the idea out of my mind. Anyway the stretchers that I had purchased from Black Art in Providence wasn’t big enough for what I wanted and in January during a trip to NYC, we stopped in New Haven and I bought a six foot wide stretcher by four and half feet tall. 

During my break, I put the stretcher together and stretched canvas that was already gessoed onto it. I brought the canvas into my garage to paint.

Staring at the canvas, I was so tempted to go down the street and buy a pack of Marlboro Lights, my usual brand, and smoke the pack before I even started painting. Instead, I took a 4 mg mini lozenge and my trusty 21 mg nicotene patch and started.

At first, I made a gesture. I did not want to preplan this painting and just enjoy the feel of paint and color. I used Sherwin Williams Latex house paint first. It is drippy and wet and I did not mix much. (I had quarts of this paint for a commission I did years ago on paper.) I made the gesture to break up the composition and give a focal point. 

I purchased more colors of latex to continue the palette. But latex also drys matte sometimes and I really wanted a more thick glossy feeling.

I had also purchased some oil paints and I began incorporating that into the painting and adding a yellowish white wash to the work. I also enhanced the lotus-like feel of the “leaves” making a pattern effect.

I started to see a cartoon-like face with sun glasses facing the right of the canvas and I started to enhance it subtly. 

SKATER BOY LOTUS

In the end, I added more lines of color and created the forehead and back of the head of the cartoon. It looks like a lotus but it also looks like a cartoon character like the Road Runner with glasses. I call it “Skater Boy Lotus”

It felt good to paint again and I plan on painting more this summer!

-Anthony Foronda

VR GALLERY of My Art

One of my projects this summer is to create a VR gallery of my artwork. Since most people are not going to galleries to view work, I am trying to bring my gallery to them during this pandemic. I am using Blender to create a 3D render of my gallery and Unity to add functionality to walk around and render the work in stereoscopic 360 degrees. I hope this works.

Purchase Tickets at www.rawartists.com/anthonyforonda

In July, I spent a month with my family in Asia. We went to Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. I created these sketches on my reMarkable tablet of some of the places I went.

These sketches are from our stay in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. I sketched our AirBnB and the streets around Shimokitazawa.

These sketches are from our stay in Hanoi, Vietnam. The sketches are from an alley way around the corner from our AirBnB.

These Sketches are from the Nest resort we stayed at in El Nido, Palawan.

One of my favorite Filipino-American Illustrators and Artist is exhibiting.

RIP Chuck Rancorn

artist, illustrator, beloved friend

Chuck Rancorn was a great friend of mine from my days in St. Pete (Gulfport) Florida. I met him as he was one of the illustrators represented by Allen & Sally Comport. They introduced Chuck to me when I was in my early 20′s out of art school. Chuck lived in Gulfport which was the same small town that I lived in. I would frequent his funky home and chat about art, politics, social and cultural ideas. We were asked to share our work and review portfolios for Ringling School of Art’s senior illustration class. Some days, he’d come over and play NFL Blitz with me on my Playstation 2.

I left Florida in 2000 and moved to the DC area. Before I left, I was invited to Chuck’s wedding. We lost touch for a few years but recently reconnected and he came to visit me in Connecticut. I helped him get reinvigorated with art and he started to develop a series of abstract work created with pencil and digitally manipulated.

Chuck was a mentor to me as an illustrator and helped me as I struggled with Mental Illness in Florida. In many ways, he was struggling too.

Chuck was such a talented artist and illustrator and has effected many people throughout his life. He loved his two children and his legacy will continue.

I will miss you dearly my beloved friend!!

Ellsworth Kelly Postal Stamps

The US Postal Service just issued a Ellsworth Kelly postal stamp collection. He is one of our favorite artists. Our friend Michael Koller worked with Kelly by creating hand-made paper for several of his art pieces.