Artist Statement:

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Working with thick acrylics, most often with palette knife, and often with layers and layers of glazing, scraping, and adding and subtracting a piece evolves, resulting in colorful and energetic visual excitement.  The work is created on thick border canvas. The sides of the canvas are painted. No framing is required.  For the creation of my work, I use dry pigments, acrylic paint, modeling paste and different types of gel mediums. My work has texture, finish and depth.  I have developed my own glazing techniques to create this effect. 

 

My paintings are not representational allowing the viewer to use their imagination to tell their own story. My paintings reflect what I feel in my heart and imagination, not what I see in front of me, which translates not to a representation of something tangible, but to a painting full of emotion and thought.

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My name is Sandra Chu and I paint under the name of Sander, my given nom de brosse at Indiana University.   Born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Indiana, I moved to California in 1970.  I retired from corporate life in 2008 and began to pursue my lifelong dream of being a full time artist.   In 2017 I made the decision to return to Louisville after living in Los Angeles for 47 years to expand my Art to the east coast and be with family.

 

Art is a family tradition, starting with my grandfather who painted frescos in cathedrals in Milan, my cousin Leon Battista Alberti artist and architect from Florence,  my Aunt Eleanor Marfisi who was an author, artist, and musician, my Uncle Caesar Berra who encouraged me to paint watercolors at age 6, and my mother who until age 96 still painted.  I knew at an early age that art was going to be a strong influence in my life and I wanted to learn as much as possible.   Whenever I travel I go to every museum and gallery to study and experience the work.  Impressionism struck a particular chord with me because it broke the rules of academic painting by giving colors primacy over lines.  Art has always been a passion of mine and now, I can pursue my dream full time. 

 

Education:  I studied charcoal drawing for 4 years at the Louisville Junior Gallery, 3 summers of plein air drawings, as well as drawing and painting curriculum at Indiana University, ceramics classes Apple Valley Jr. College. I received a B.A. from Cal State Dominguez Hills in Studio Art, specializing in sculpture.  My work has been featured in Easy Reader newspaper Art Section as well as Long Beach Press Telegram, shown on the cover of DIGGS magazine, Victoza Commercial and Killer Instinct TV Show.