MENTA

I was born and raised in Bronx New York and have been drawing from the age of 5 with pencil and crayons, slowly graduating from one medium to another until finding a love for mixing acrylic paint with airbrush and traditional brush on assorted surfaces. When selecting the next black and white photo realistic painting to hit my canvas I choose images of familiarity using multiple photographic reference's to recreate there true life essence and emotion with identifiable characteristics which I then transfer to a clay board or aluminum panel. To create my paintings I use a process of application and removal of acrylic paint with an Airbrush and traditional brush, balancing layers of black while removing paint with an eraser, razor and other abrasive materials to highlight and textureize my subject with the white of the surface I'm painting on. I do this continuously until all tonal values are balanced to my liking. My images are painted using only the color black, with a splash of color,..