Robert Mehling

Green Light
Cup Rack with Pots
Garden Glove
STATEMENT I was born near New York City on October 10th, 1954, and currently live and paint on Long Island. Artistic ability emerged early, but I did not pursue an aggressive and consistent study of my profession until my 40th year. Academic training has since enriched my mature work, and still life has emerged as my forte. I create pictures by looking at things and painting their likeness, using traditional materials and methods. Tradition inspires me, but my version is a unique amalgam of influences, and my subjects are personally significant. This makes my work current and relevant. In my still lifes, the viewer may discover hidden meanings and chance narratives in the combinations of objects, but since composition takes precedence in my deciding what to paint, the symbolism that results from the process is somewhat open. Certain objects appeal to me over others. Generally, I prefer old, used things over things that are brand new, but I?m liable to paint anything that ?speaks? to me. My purpose is simply to share with the viewer things that I find beautiful and interesting, and to capture in paint how light describes these forms. I don?t believe that painting needs to be reinvented for the sake of self expression or that we should stop painting pictures because pictures can be produced photographically. Painting has a quality that no camera can capture, and I feel that painting it like it is - without distortion or invention or contrivance - is the most direct way to share it.

What's on my mind...

Robert Mehling

Posted on Jun 20, 2012 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
Cup Rack with PotsGarden GloveGreen Light

Realist Painter

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Robert Mehling Paintings

1: Contemporary Painting: Avant-Garde or Not? Part 1

Posted on May 29, 2009 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

My Graduate Art History Paper

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Gerhard Richter, Jacob Collins, postmodernism, classical realism

2: Contemporary Painting: Avant-Garde or Not? Part 2

Posted on May 29, 2009 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

My Graduate Art History Paper

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Gerhard Richter, Jacob Collins, postmodernism, classical realism

Does Existence End?

Posted on Aug 16, 2007 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
Trinity

Philosophical essay about existence.

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Mehling Paintings Show

Posted on Jun 10, 2007 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Mehling Paintings Show

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Time Story - A Science Parable

Posted on May 23, 2006 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Science fiction about time travel, archaeology and Jesus Christ.

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Art's Eclectic Future: A Synthesis - Part II

Posted on Apr 27, 2006 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

An essay about and criticism of Modern Art: what defines it, what assumptions hide in it, and what its future is, including this artist's personal anecdotes

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modernism, traditional art, Twentieth Century art, Victorian art, future of art, bias, novelty

Art's Eclectic Future: A Synthesis - Part I

Posted on Apr 27, 2006 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
Persistently Alarming Memories

An essay about and criticism of Modern Art: what defines it, what assumptions hide in it, and what its future is, including this artist's personal anecdotes

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modernism, traditional art, Twentieth Century art, Victorian art, future of art, bias, novelty

Grand Opening Reception for artist Robert Mehling and others

Posted on May 29, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Grand Opening Reception for artist Robert Mehling and others

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Echoing Dream

Posted on Apr 25, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
MidnightMinwax by LamplightPersistently Alarming Memory

Trying to remember upon awakening.

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Dream

Eat the Evening Sky

Posted on Apr 24, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
Minwax by LamplightUntitled

Advice from Myself at Seventeen to myself at Age Fifty

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Poetry from a painter

Get the Point?

Posted on Apr 23, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012
Get the Point?

Some thoughts about the noble qualities found in ordinary things.

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still life, trompe l'oeil

Contemporary Painting

Posted on Apr 10, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Art Review and Essay

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Contemporary Painting

Posted on Apr 10, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Art Review and Essay

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Contemporary Painting

Posted on Apr 10, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Art Review and Essay

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Essays on Modernism

Posted on Apr 10, 2005 | Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

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