Landscape - Art Is Landscape Painter'S Passion

Art is love for Renee Nemerov.

"I see a wonderful mix of color and drama in a landscape while driving by, and I can't wait to translate my view of it into a painting. Or sometimes I see a photo that will do the same thing, although my view of it will not be literal, but impressionistic, or expressionistic. My art sustains me and I can't imagine life without it."

Renee comes from a gifted family. She is the daughter of David Nemerov, famous for his huge, vividly colorful floral paintings. Her sister was the avant garde photographer, Diane Arbus, and her brother, Howard Nemerov, was one of the first Poet Laureates of the United States.

"Art has always been a passion for me for me since I first made a sculpture of a litttle scotty dog in first grade. I worked on it for two hours, which my teacher called remarkable for so young a child. It also showed considerable skill, according to my teacher. That was at Ethical Culture school in New York City, where I grew up, and where I had the opportunity to study with many great artists."

Renee has had major shows in New York City; Palm Beach and Miami, Florida; Traverse City and Saginaw, Michigan; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Ventura, California. Her work was included in a U.S. State Department traveling show, which was part of the cultural exchange program with Russia. She is represented in the Lord Beaverbrook Museum in New Brunswick, Canada and the Nate Cummings Sara Lee collection in Chicago, among others, and her sculptures and paintings are internationally collected.

As a result of a two-man show of their artwork at the Palm Beach Institute, Renee and her late husband Roy Sparkia were commissioned by Laurence Wein, then one of the building's owners, to create the eight 5' wide x 7' high illuminated panels in the Empire State Building lobby. They depict the traditional Seven Wonders of the World, the great pyramids of Egypt, the Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the temple of Diana, the statue of Zeus, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Colossus of Rhodes. The eighth wonder is the Empire State Building, at that time the tallest building in the world. These huge, crystal resin and stained glass panels were installed in the Empire State Building in 1963 and are still there attracting millions of viewers today.

"I am currently painting various series of contemporary American landscapes-the rugged mountains of our great Southwest, the green mountains and waterfalls of West Virginia, the winding Rio Grande river, the beautiful beaches of Lake Michigan, the breathtaking sunsets over the Pacific ocean and lush hills of Calfornia."

Renee now has a website-Contemporary Art Studio-which enables her to sell her art directly to the public over the Internet at very affordable prices.