Dimitri Kourouniotis paints boldly, exploring contrasts of visually engaging swirls and loops set against a background of broad brushstrokes. “I try to make landscape and cityscape pieces that are simultaneously energizing and soothing,” he says, "using a combination of bright colors with abstract city or plains settings." Inspired by the visual poetry of everyday life, Dimitri’s art clears the mind, as he adds momentum to intention and emotion. Loose, confident gestural forms are his vocabulary, giving the viewer a sense of immediacy and presence. “My art is about the passion of expression, living joyfully in the present.” Born in Athens, Greece, 1965, Dimitri Kourouniotis has lived in both Europe and the United States. After finishing his graduate degree in business studies in the UK he spent the next 12 years as a management consultant and computer programmer. He currently lives in California with his wife. Having decided to pursue the course to his true happiness, he became a full time artist in 2001. His influences include Diebenkorn, Da Vinci, Kline and Zen calligraphers. His paintings are created as he relates energy and momentum into color, intention and emotion. He creates art with oil & charcoal on canvas.

Capturing the fleeting moods of cityscapes and landscapes as they are transformed by fog, rain, light and darkness is my continuing passion. Reinventing and finding beauty in our day-to-day pedestrian world . . . watching the drama unfold in atmospheric changes as day recedes into the formless abstractions of night . . . reveling in the play of reflections dancing on a rain swept pavement and contemplating the mysterious in the spaces between the objects we see . . . this is my inspiration.  Through manipulation of color, design, nuance and form, I strive to make the ordinary extraordinary.

Kim Smith has shown at George Lawson Gallery and Inclusions Gallery in SF.  She is the recepient of several Jurors Awards for ArtSpan auctions and shows.  She was once first sold at the Visual Aid auction and also sold within the top 10.  She published a book (real printing, not on-line) of her work in 2008.  The book, Where Quirky Meets Menacing: an autobiography in collage, won several nationwide awards.  She sells her work through galleries, open studios and her business, Smith & Co. (www.VintageSmith.com)

My collages are meant to be intimate and should evoke a peaceful, quiet and simultaneously compelling response from viewers. Many of the collages are of a serious nature, specifically my recent series "Series For a Better World."  But, one can often find a humorous or unexpected element within the frame as well. I use art to voice opinions and ideas that I often don't have the courage to say aloud.  It is also a form of relaxation and I often spend days exploring galleries and museums. Artwork can have an overwhelming impact on me and strike me with a breath-stopping raw energy that makes me want to produce my own work. Having the time and space to feed this desire is enriching. I was born in Seattle, Washington in 1961 and spent 10 years of my childhood in Germany. I now call San Francisco home. I have degrees in Design, Economics, and an MBA.

I use vintage and antique materials in my collages, rather than modern copies.  I believe using the vintage materials maintains the integrity of the work.  To the greatest degree possible, I treat them in an archival manner.  My work is professionally framed with acid free matting and ready to hang. I usually use museum glass.

I begin my paintings outside in nature. I initially scout for a location and subject which has meaning for me,  and then return to that site to paint. There, I am influenced by the all the elements. This affects my painting and the feeling I put into the paintings. Being at the site allows me to deeply experience the nature subject as I am painting it.  

I like to explore how humans affect nature and how nature lives in it's environments, with or without much human influence. Often, I am attracted to aged forms of life - old trees and vines or massive rocks have a kind knowledge beyond human understanding. And the delicate beauty of a wildflower and a field of grasses has equal allure.

My paintings are completed in the studio. At this point, I work from memory and feeling. As the work evolves, it sometimes changes from the original scene, taking on its own life. The painting eventually becomes a memory of my experience with the environment. There is a deep personal connection with each painting which always remains with me.

I am passionately inspired about luminous light and shadow and the sensuous nature of objects and their relationships to each other elevated to a higher level. The goal of my work is to capture the moment of wonder in everyday objects that may reveal a story for the viewer. I choose my subjects very carefully for the magic of their texture, color, or graceful design . Whether it be a persimmon with leaves, a shell, antique glass, exotic orchids, some gourds or a pear, all are transformed in paint with many layers of glazes some in oil on canvas and some in watercolor on paper.

Contemporary realistic figurative, portrait, landscape and still life drawing and painting

Selections 2013: Home Rustic(most recent)

In this new series I am wanting to capture that nostalgic security felt as a child who knows where home is. Having grown up "Mid-Century" these modern architetural homes and tools are most memorable and still have a current and relevant feel.  So as we struggle with, "where home is?" we can always gleen pleasure from our feelings of our first home, no matter how mobile we've become.  The rusted steel represents the buildings gone by and the bright, thick oils carry the sense of hope and abundance.

Recent Works Circus Freaks and Sideshows Series: As a kid, I remember when the Circus would come to town, setting up in a vacant lot just outside of the city limits.  We could go see the animals being unloaded and feed while the men set up the Big Top. Those were amazing, happy memories. As an adult I realize that inside the Circus, it's a bit darker,  the freaks were painful deformaties and birth defects. The amazing animals weren't always rewarded well for their performances and life traveling the country in a train car wasn't an easy one. This series attempts to explore both the dark and the cheerful illusions of Circus life. 

Water Hi-jack explores endangered water species taking back their water supply in this frolicking, humorous eco-art series. Materials include hand-cut collage, photo transfer, and oil on wood panel.