Inside the Studio: Showdown Finalist Maurice Sapiro (US)
Maurice Sapiro at work in his studio.
Favorite material to work with? Oil paint.
How many years as an artist? 66 years.
Tools of the trade.
What themes do you pursue? Atmosphere, light, mist, clouds, sunset, and pigment to achieve abstract elements when viewed up close.
Prefer to work with music or in silence? Nature has provided silence—I’m losing my hearing.
Where is your studio? In my home/studio/gallery.
Maurice Sapiro at his retrospective exhibition at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Where can we find you outside the studio? On the back deck, looking up into the sky.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist? Be true to your own vision!
Maurice’s painting “Apparition” was selected by internationally-acclaimed artist Chantal Joffe as one of the Top 10 Finalists in our Painted Faces Showdown competition.
Art school or self-taught? Self-taught.
If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do? Be a curator at The Tate Gallery.
Day job? I am a retired music educator, day and night I now paint.
What do you collect? Cameras.
Favorite contemporary artist? Gerhard Richter.
Favorite brush? A 3” blender made by Utrecht Linen Co.
Is painting dead? Not as long as I’m alive!
