Internationally renowned artist and author George Deem to speak April 20

Internationally renowned artist and authorGeorge Deem to speak April 20April 12, 2005Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

On April 20, George Deem, internationally renowned artist and author of the recent book “How to Paint a Vermeer,” will speak about his work at 5:45 p.m. in Syracuse University’s Shemin Auditorium, located in the Shaffer Art Building. His lecture is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the dean’s office of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Department of Fine Arts in The College of Arts and Sciences, and the William Fleming Educational Fund. Paid parking is available in the Comstock lot.

Reworking paintings by old and modern masters, and exploring issues of representation through carefully composed visual montages of art-historical subjects, have focused Deem’s art for the past 40 years. In 2004, his “How to Paint a Vermeer: A Painter’s History of Art” (Thames & Hudson), provided comprehensive illustrations of his art and a discussion of his philosophies as an artist. Deem has been influenced by much of the history of Western art, particularly the greatest American and European artists, including the 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, best known for his detailed depictions of figures in carefully composed interiors. In his re-worked Vermeer paintings, Deem often strips the figures from the originals or focuses on a specific detail, while generally adhering to the style of the original painting. Since the 1960s, he has returned repeatedly to Vermeer’s paintings for his subject matter but Caravaggio, Matisse and Picasso, among others, have been formative influences as well.

Deem holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; has been artist-in-residence at the Branson School in Ross, Calif., and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science in Indiana; and visiting artist at Illinois State University. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions both in the United States and abroad and his works are included in a large number of public and corporate collections throughout America and Europe.