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Ron Fortier
Ron Fortier
Painting
I completely believed my self-perpetuated mantra of painting sang froid – cold-bloodedly – and of ignoring my emotions for quite some time. My fixation was totally on my compositional abilities; the focus of which was the horizontal line fully co...Read More
Showing all 11 results
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45 #11 – 2018
$6,00030"H X 40"W X 1.5"D -
45 #7 – 2017
$6,00030"H X 40"W X 1.5"D -
45 #12 – 2017
$6,00030"H X 40"W X 1.5"D -
45 #18 – 2019
$6,00040"H X 30"W X 1.5"D -
45 #9 – 2018
$7,20048"H X 30"W X 1.5"D -
45 #14 – 2019
$7,20040"H X 36"W X 1.5"D -
45 #17 – 2019
$6,00040"H X 30"W X 1.5"D -
45 #16 – 2019
$6,00040"H X 30"W X 1.5"D -
45 #2 – 2017
$8,64060"H X 48"W X 1.5"D -
45 #8 – 2017
$7,20030"H X 48"W X 1.5"D -
45 #15 – 2019
$7,20040"H X 36"W X 1.5"D
STATEMENT
I completely believed my self-perpetuated mantra of painting sang froid – cold-bloodedly – and of ignoring my emotions for quite some time. My fixation was totally on my compositional abilities; the focus of which was the horizontal line fully conscious that it would conjure an abstracted landscape.
The calligraphic element, scribbles or sgraffito if you prefer, are vestiges of my earliest stitched abstractions inspired by Alberto Burri. I pursued abstraction for decades, only to discover that I had been avoiding my emotions in my attempt to paint nothing.
Those repeated attempts have failed because the supposedly hidden or ignored emotions are revealed to the viewer in ways that I cannot explain. Yet, viewers of my work describe the very same things that I thought I was avoiding, which continues to astonish me since I have never expressed it verbally to anyone.
BIO
Ron Fortier is a painter with a studio in the historic seaport town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Art has been central to his life since his earliest recollections.
His mother, who lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts left Ron’s father shortly after he was born and moved to the East Side of New York City to live with her uncle Luiz where Ron spent his early childhood. Ron was exposed to the City’s galleries and museums nearly every day by Uncle Luiz.
But, after a falling out between his mother and her uncle, a retired Portuguese language newspaper publisher, they moved to the West Side. Living on Columbus Avenue in a multi-cultural and multi-racial environment gave him another perspective and added to his multi-lingual abilities.
These early experiences helped to shape the rest of his life. Ron’s mother gave up her emerging career as a singer of Fado; the traditional folk songs of Portugal associated with melancholy and resignation to loss.
They relocated to Massachusetts where Ron began school. In college, he worked as a set designer and painter for the Opera Department at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) which led to an opportunity to work for Boris Goldovsky, of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
After graduating from the MFA program at the University of Miami he balanced a multi-disciplined career in advertising, as an adjunct professor of Marketing, Art History, and Studio Art. Semi-retired and suddenly divorced, Ron expatriated to the Silver Coast of mainland Portugal, where he devoted his energy as an abstract painter on an international level.
Ron Fortier had several solo shows in Portugal and Germany and was represented there by the Galeria O Rastro. Returning to the United States in 2017 to marry once again, he established his studio on the South Coast of Massachusetts.
EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS
Solo Exhibitions;
2021 – New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
Group Exhibitions;
2021 - New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
2021 - Reckoning; Dartmouth Cultural Center, Dartmouth, Massachusetts
2021 – Gallery at Four; Tiverton, Rhode Island
2021 – Coastal Contemporary Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island
2021 – Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery; Detroit, Michigan
2021 – Alex Haley 100th Anniversary Virtual Art Exhibition; Nashville, Tennessee
2020 – Gallery at Four; Tiverton, Rhode Island
2020 – Coastal Contemporary Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island
2019 – Coastal Contemporary Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island
EDUCATION
1977 MFA in Painting from the University of Miami
1975 BFA in Painting from the Southeastern Massachusetts University
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Co-Creator, The Artists Index - Podcast, up close and personal conversations with the makers, performers, supporters, and cultural impresarios of the creative community. of the South Coast of Massachusetts
Art Instructor: Community College of Rhode Island, Warwick - Art History: Ancient to Medieval, Studio Drawing 101.
Marketing Lecturer – Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Part-Time Lecturer: Bristol Community College; Fall River, Massachusetts - Art History and 2-D Design
Office Manager, Office of Historic Preservation, New Bedford, Massachusetts
ARTIST'S TAGS
abstract, abstract painter, abstract expressionism, abstract expressionist,