Baltimore born Jeremiah is a self-taught realist and surrealist painter. "I call myself a realist/surrealist, though I think of my brand of surrealism as being very grounded in tradition."
In 1957 at age eleven he started in oils, declaring that drawing and painting came easily for him, as though second nature.
He developed his particular version of sharp-focus realistic oil painting from a culmination of technical discoveries employed as necessity demanded in order to communicate ideas realistically and delicately.
Jeremiah was originally inspired by the realism of the 19th Century European Academy painters. His parents celebrated all Jeremiah"s birthdays at Baltimore"s Haussner"s Restaurant which had a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling collection of 19th century paintings. Because this was his first exposure to oil painting, Jeremiah thought the sharp and delicate realism he saw at Haussner's was the only kind of oil painting that existed. Jeremiah was also inspired by a 1960's local art show entitled, The 6 Realists. The artists were all of the Maroger school of painting.
His inspirations went on to include the 17th Century Dutch Masters, photo-realism, the surrealism of Salvador Dali, and the Impressionists and their control of mood through color; all becoming a part of his standards of realism. "Some of my favorite old masters are: Jean-Louis-Ernst Meissonier, and Frans van Meiris."
The attention in Jeremiah"s work is on bringing things into sharp focus and to make them vivid and tangible.
Jeremiah says, "I let the qualities of surfaces show me what and how to portray them with paint. I just keep it honest between me and what I see. I want the visual intimacy to be enhanced by the sensual quality of the paint and paint handling. I apply and blend colors in such a way as to keep the relief of my paint flat and smooth, eliminating visible brush strokes. I interpret with paint what nature dictates; soft or sharp transitions, bright or subdued colors, textures, transparencies, translucent veils, etc. I look for every evidence of the interplay of light on surfaces.
"The innovations needed to best interpret each surface area, in terms of paint, and in two dimensions, creates spontaneity and adds life to each area, and all of this hopefully causing the objects or subjects to vibrate with life. It allows the painting to breathe."I spent glorious summers with my grandparents at their shore home on the Chesapeake Bay. The scenes around the house had a special light which would bounce up from the water and shimmer and dance on everything. The mood from that light is at the heartbeat of my paintings. To generate warm, bright and uplifting delight is the challenge.", says Jeremiah."After a life-changing NDE out-of-body experience when I was 30, I want my art to allude to that sampling of nirvana. I appreciate when someone says my work looks like a photograph, but my goal is for everything to look and feel real- to go beyond the purely visible. I pay a lot of attention to the air around everything. I apply colors in layers in thin flat relief leaving virtually no evidence of brushstroke. The most important aspect of my work is mood.Jeremiah paints still lifes, interior scenes, with or without figures, and surrealistic themes."Jeremiah has been represented by galleries in Manhattan, Palm Beach and Naples, Florida, and is presently represented in galleries in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Chevy Chase, Maryland.
"My works are in various renowned collections around the country. I have been represented in galleries in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Baltimore, Maryland. South Hampton, and New York City, New York. Wellesley, Massachusetts. Naples and Palm Beach, Florida. I have two pieces in the collection of a well known television and movie actor, and am in the permanent collection of The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina. I have several pieces in "The World's Top 200 Collections". I have given numerous lectures and demonstrations on realistic oil painting and surrealism at various institutions and universities in Maryland."
Please contact Jeremiah Stermer at:
jeremiah39@verizon.net
In 1957 at age eleven he started in oils, declaring that drawing and painting came easily for him, as though second nature.
He developed his particular version of sharp-focus realistic oil painting from a culmination of technical discoveries employed as necessity demanded in order to communicate ideas realistically and delicately.
Jeremiah was originally inspired by the realism of the 19th Century European Academy painters. His parents celebrated all Jeremiah"s birthdays at Baltimore"s Haussner"s Restaurant which had a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling collection of 19th century paintings. Because this was his first exposure to oil painting, Jeremiah thought the sharp and delicate realism he saw at Haussner's was the only kind of oil painting that existed. Jeremiah was also inspired by a 1960's local art show entitled, The 6 Realists. The artists were all of the Maroger school of painting.
His inspirations went on to include the 17th Century Dutch Masters, photo-realism, the surrealism of Salvador Dali, and the Impressionists and their control of mood through color; all becoming a part of his standards of realism. "Some of my favorite old masters are: Jean-Louis-Ernst Meissonier, and Frans van Meiris."
The attention in Jeremiah"s work is on bringing things into sharp focus and to make them vivid and tangible.
Jeremiah says, "I let the qualities of surfaces show me what and how to portray them with paint. I just keep it honest between me and what I see. I want the visual intimacy to be enhanced by the sensual quality of the paint and paint handling. I apply and blend colors in such a way as to keep the relief of my paint flat and smooth, eliminating visible brush strokes. I interpret with paint what nature dictates; soft or sharp transitions, bright or subdued colors, textures, transparencies, translucent veils, etc. I look for every evidence of the interplay of light on surfaces.
"The innovations needed to best interpret each surface area, in terms of paint, and in two dimensions, creates spontaneity and adds life to each area, and all of this hopefully causing the objects or subjects to vibrate with life. It allows the painting to breathe."I spent glorious summers with my grandparents at their shore home on the Chesapeake Bay. The scenes around the house had a special light which would bounce up from the water and shimmer and dance on everything. The mood from that light is at the heartbeat of my paintings. To generate warm, bright and uplifting delight is the challenge.", says Jeremiah."After a life-changing NDE out-of-body experience when I was 30, I want my art to allude to that sampling of nirvana. I appreciate when someone says my work looks like a photograph, but my goal is for everything to look and feel real- to go beyond the purely visible. I pay a lot of attention to the air around everything. I apply colors in layers in thin flat relief leaving virtually no evidence of brushstroke. The most important aspect of my work is mood.Jeremiah paints still lifes, interior scenes, with or without figures, and surrealistic themes."Jeremiah has been represented by galleries in Manhattan, Palm Beach and Naples, Florida, and is presently represented in galleries in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Chevy Chase, Maryland.
"My works are in various renowned collections around the country. I have been represented in galleries in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Baltimore, Maryland. South Hampton, and New York City, New York. Wellesley, Massachusetts. Naples and Palm Beach, Florida. I have two pieces in the collection of a well known television and movie actor, and am in the permanent collection of The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina. I have several pieces in "The World's Top 200 Collections". I have given numerous lectures and demonstrations on realistic oil painting and surrealism at various institutions and universities in Maryland."
jeremiah39@verizon.net
