Robert Schaar Fine Art Orange County - American Fine Art Paintings April 28, 2018
Painting famous people, significant events, and a wide range of subject matter, Robert Schaar has brush-stroked his way to an international reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile artists of our time.
His portrait subjects have included President Gerald Ford; former Chairman Chief's of Staff, General David C. Jones; jockey, Bill Shoemaker; baseball great Duke Snider and Challenger Space Shuttle Astronaut Christa McAuliffe. His work has depicted the excitement of the Kentucky Derby and provided the official poster for the 1992 U.S. Open Golf Championship. Schaar has won many gold medals in juried art shows and is one of an elite group of artists who comprise the NASA Art Program. His work hangs in such varied venues as the Smithsonian Institute, Air & Space Museum, the Kentucky Derby Museum and the Christa McCauliffe Planetarium.
But Schaar is as much at home with pastoral landscapes and tranquil shorelines as with action-packed sports scenes, famous events or portraits of prominent figures.
Painting at La Cour Villa in Massillargues, France "As to being categorized as a particular type of artist, I refuse to be,” says Schaar. “There are just too many subjects that attract my interest. I want to be free to capture them all on canvas.” And capture them he does, in oils and acrylics with a colorful, brushy style that is uniquely his own.
Schaar’s work is deceptively loose and spontaneous and characterized by a profusion of color and the lively interplay of light and shadows. Yet his technique never loses the structural unity that is based on solid values of drawing, composition and design.
“To me, design is extremely important in a painting,” says Schaar. “It’s as important as anything because the design element creates the mood, action and the general feeling of the painting.” Noting that sometimes his brushwork can look unrestrained and relaxed, Schaar explains that if one looks closely at his paintings, they can see subtle things he does that aren’t always obvious at first glance, part of the joy the viewer experiences in his work that surfaces at every examination.
Evidence of Schaar’s recent visits to Europe are found in several of his themes – street scenes, canals, bridges, and other water settings. His travels are a constant source of inspiration and subject matter for his art.