Wendy Csoka's Publications

• French Painter Henri Matisse, Wendy Csoka July, 2010 One of my most significant influences as an artist is the French painter Henri Matisse, known as one of the great figures behind the Fauvist movement. Matisse painted with wild expression that was mostly concentrated in his unique use of color, and he depicted objects and people in shades that were often far removed from a subject’s actual appearance. Although the Fauvists as a whole fell from popularity during the first decade of the 20th century, Matisse retained a place in the hearts of critics and art collectors. Matisse was a close acquaintance of Pablo Picasso, and the mutual influence on each other’s work is clear. While Picasso often took his paintings into an abstract realm, however, Matisse stayed much more faithful to the actual appearance of what he painted. By the 1920s, Matisse had drawn away from his Fauvist roots and embraced a more classical approach to painting, but he never shied away from his use of vivid color. Matisse died in 1954, but his legacy continues to excite art enthusiasts around the world. He is commonly considered one of the key artists of the 20th century. A museum dedicated to Matisse’s work now stands in Le Cateau-Cambresis, a city in Northern France, where Matisse was born.

• The Brain Tumor Foundation, Wendy Csoka June, 2011 Wendy Csoka I believe in using my artistic gifts to support worthy initiatives. I was proud to have my art displayed in the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition’s Art & Facts educational health box materials. As a brain tumor survivor, I support the Brain Tumor Foundation. Established in 1998 by two dedicated New York City physicians, the Foundation seeks to assist brain tumor patients by providing a social network that offers education, medical referrals, guidance, and support. The Brain Tumor Foundation presents online articles about brain tumor surveys and research. The Brain Tumor Foundation also offers extensive educational resources, including material on brain tumor epidemiology, symptoms, and treatments, as well as transcripts of Brain Tumor Foundation-sponsored presentations and talks. I particularly admire the Brain Tumor Foundation’s life positive and supportive attitudes towards treatment and recovery. My experiences overcoming a brain tumor offered learning and self-healing aspects, with artistic creation becoming a central conduit for finding emotional wellbeing.

• Contemporary Art Movements of the Previous Two Decades, Wendy Csoka September, 2011 The art community generally considers the contemporary art period as following the modern art period, or roughly, from the 1960s and 1970s to present day. During those approximately 50 years, dozens of unique techniques and styles have emerged into the limelight, including those movements described below. The movement known as classical realism combines elements found in the 19th-century artistic styles of neoclassicism and realism, and in particular, their focus on beauty and aesthetics. Classical realists possess high admiration for Western art movements like impressionism and classicism, and they incorporate techniques found in those styles into their own artwork. Nature and the visible world both play important roles in classical realism, and artists of the genre prefer to create still life and figurative paintings. The digital art genre encompasses those works created using digital technology as a central element in the development and/or creative processes. Digital art falls within the larger realm of new media art, in which artists employ recent technologies to create their works. Found prevalently in advertisements, television, and film, digital art includes such subgenres as evolutionary art, digital painting and imaging, and many interactive art installations. — Wendy Csoka is an award-winning artist whose paintings have been featured in exhibits throughout Florida and New York. Ms. Csoka has been painting since the early 1970s.

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