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Artist Statement
Since early childhood art has always been a part of my life. A blank canvas has always helped me express my thoughts of romance, despair, life events, world travels and personal experiences. I take special pride in my ability to capture human faces and emotional expressions. All my paintings are envisioned in my mind, and I feel the need to pour them out onto the canvas.
My eccentricity shows in my paintings, passion, emotion, and feelings are important, but they are not enough without proficiency, skill, instruction, motivation and dedication. I am able to create different styles of paintings, from abstract to portraiture, with a unique flair.
I depict a brilliantly colored world in my paintings, which defies perspective. My paintings have extraordinary versatility, resourcefulness, and intuitive sensibility.
Biography
Growing up in an artistic and liberal family, creativity and imagination was always encouraged. My mother owned and designed for a sweater company and did design consulting in Italy for 35 years. My dad played twenty-six musical instruments. In high school I was presented with the St. Gaudens art medal by President Lyndon Johnson in Washington D.C. After graduation I was accepted to Cooper Union into the architecture and the fine arts program.
I then quit school, and my first business venture was at age 19 when I opened a very successful retail men's clothing store called Tyrone. I was responsible for introducing Hugo Boss, Renoma and many other European clothing lines to the United States.
Years later, I sold my interest in Tyrone and moved to Europe where I ran a manufacturing company in Copenhagen, called Blonde on Blonde, where all products were designed by me. I have exhibited my art in my designer showrooms over the years where retail buyers, fashion coordinators and friends have viewed and expressed appreciation and the desire to purchase my artwork. For forty years, I have been very fortunate to have owned and been the head designer for many products in apparel & accessories.
It is now time for me to spend all my remaining years pursing my real love, which is creating the images I see in my head and painting them on canvases to share with the world.
Thank you
Allan Raider
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