Reality in light: artist Steve Smulka brings objects to light with nearly photographic paintings - Artist profile: Steve Smulka

Steve Smulka's trademark glass jars and objects are not photographs, though they may appear to be at first glance. Instead, Smulka achieves stunning realism through his manipulation of space and light.

He did not arrive at such a realization easily, however. Born and raised in Detroit, Smulka left the Motor City at the age of 18 on a full scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York. At the SVA, he studied under renowned photo-realist Chuck Close, who inspired Smulka to begin painting in the photo-realist style. During his college years, he also worked as an assistant to Pop artist Bob Stanley doing everything from cleaning his brushes to helping him with paintings. Stanley also introduced him to the leaders of the New York art scene of the late 1960s and early '70s, including Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, Walter DeMaria, Richard Artshweiger and Bob Ryma. "It was very exciting for a kid to meet his group of friends, who were all pretty famous by then," he said.

After graduating from the SVA, Smulka earned his M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts and returned to New York. "At the time, it seemed like the only place to live for an artist. I found a loft on the Bowery and did just enough carpentry work to survive and pay the rent and buy art supplies. I spent the rest of my time painting," he said.

Smulka then began experimenting with different styles. He said, "By the time I was out of graduate school, I was doing minimalist painting, very painterly, neo-abstract, expressionist kind of painting. As I matured and my work became more personal, I developed a style which could be described as large, abstract landscapes," he said. "The more I was excited by the work, the larger the paintings got, ultimately reaching 30 feet long. Finally, I was ready for a show." His first show was at the SoHo Center for the Arts, where Larry Aldrich of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Conn., became Smulka's first collector. In addition, some of the nations largest corporations began collecting his work, including Mobil, Oppenheimer & Co. and the Continental Group.

"The New York art scene at the time was very exciting. Pop art, color field and photo-realism were going strong. Being around all those other artists gave you an attitude of wanting to be unique and not wanting to repeat what had been done before. There was a big emphasis on being different. Being around other starving artists also offered a lot of moral support," he said.

In 1990, Smulka met his wife Ginny and they spent a month in Italy on an art and food trip. "Before the trip, I went through all our art history books and made a list of all the paintings I had always wanted to see, and we planned our itinerary according to that. We also made a list of every regional culinary specialty. We ate our way through Italy and drank in all the art we could," he said. The works he viewed, especially those of Caravaggio, brought Smulka to a new realization: "By the time we came back from that trip, I knew I had to go back to painting realistically," he said.

At the same time, Smulka and Ginny had a weekend house in the country, and they began collecting antique glass. "One thing that had always interested me most about painting realistically was the light. I painted a variety of figurative work and still-life work, and the glass really worked the best to show off the effects of light. It really makes them glow," he said.

Thus, glass became his signature subject. To transfer his lifelike work to canvas and create his paintings of antique glass, Smulka said he needs natural light from a good window. He chooses from a collection of glass jars, which he arranges by the window of his home and studio in Salem, N.Y., until he sees a point of view that is interesting. He makes a detailed drawing before he starts painting with oils on canvas or linen. "I paint everything larger than life-sized. The most important thing to me is the light, portraying the time of day. It almost tells the weather conditions by the way they're painted," he said.

Although his trademark paintings are nearly photographic, Smulka said, "I wouldn't necessary call them photo-realist paintings, they are a little more painterly than a straight photo-realist style. You can get more realistic with a painting than with a photograph. The illusion of space is never the same in a photograph." He added, "I think in a way, it follows the tradition of genre painting, the painting of everyday objects. I try to be as realistic as possible, and I find it very satisfying to try to draw everything as well as I can, using the light as part of the composition."

Today, Smulka's work is published by Broad Brush Studio, which is managed by his wife Ginny. The company started printing giclees of Smulka's work this past fall. Smulka's original paintings are currently showing in New York, Boston, Santa Fe, N.M., and Carmel, Calif. Smulka said people are drawn to the glass and he will continue to paint it "as long as it keeps interesting me, as long as I can find an interesting way to paint without repeating myself."

In the future, the artist said he plans to incorporate more elaborate backgrounds, landscapes, views and objects in his paintings. Smulka would also like to return to the nude portraits and figurative paintings that he began years ago.

In life, Smulka is proud of his courage to follow his own path and not worry about what was in or out in the art world. For Smulka the future has become the present. "When I was in school, my fantasy was to be in a gallery. Once that happened, and once I began selling the paintings, there was no need to fantasize about the future anymore."

For more information, call (914) 763-6824 or visit www.broadbrushstudio.com online.

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