Cream Rises to the Top!

A great talent or a great artist cannot go unnoticed for long, just as cream poured in coffee or tea eventually rises to the top!

Even in a bad economy people are still lining up to purchase the work of British Artist Roni Stretch! The recession has not only highlighted Stretch's talents as a master painter, but has caused him to create a "waiting list" for buyers and collectors world-wide who seem to be coming back for more!

Stretch says, "Purchasing "high quality art" is a great investment as market values are most likely to increase with time! I feel very fortunate to be as busy as ever in this current climate as I've been able to maintain my work through consistency the last 10-12 years. Perhaps this is the reason for such interest in my art".

Artist Roni Stretch was born in St.Helens, Merseyside, England in 1964 and attended the St.Helens College of Art and Design from 1982 until 1984. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, Ca since the 1990's, including group shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Geffen Contemporary Museum. His Work has been shown in solo exhibitions in New York, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sun Valley Idaho and Milan, Italy.

Stretch has pioneered the Dichromatic Process, exploring photo-realistic under paintings that emerge ghost like from a void of color. His Dichromatic oil paintings are meticulously created by executing a layer process where by two different colors are alternately applied and built up over many weeks. The subjects play against a sharply lined border intended to ground each painting in the physical and force a visual meditation. The image is not so much painted over as optically embedded within the multiple layers of alternating colors. Stretch’s work is a lesson in contradictions: photo-realism and altered states, smooth and rough texture all ultimately leading to an emotional experience.

Donald Kuspit, a New York-based art critic and author of numerous books, including the controversial "The End of Art" says, "My first response to Roni Stretch's paintings was how extraordinarily exquisite and how original. I know of nothing quite like them, the history of modern, let alone the traditional art-an ingenious, convincing the integration of color field painting, minimalist structure, and photo-realist portraiture." Kuspit also remarks, "Stretch's paintings are subtle, eloquent masterpieces carrying forward the tradition of pure painting while acknowledging the inevitability of human presence and vision."

Stretch's works are held in numerous pubic collections in the U.S. and Europe and over 200 paintings are in private collections worldwide. Following an inclusion in Kuspit's monumental California New Old Masters art Gallery C, the Pasadena Museum of California Art selected Stretch's Shannon to complete their peerless permanent collection of California art. In 2005 he was included in the annual Fresh auction at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Stretch's painting realized the highest dollar amount in over 300 up-coming and established artists that year. He has recently been in the Museum of California Design's permanent collection and has also served as the Official Artist for The People's Choice Awards and The American Music Award. Philanthropically, Stretch has raised thousands of dollars for the Venice Family Clinic, Aids Research Alliance, The Magic Foundation, The Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation, and The Make a Wish Foundation to name a few.

For more information please visit: www.ronistretch.com