At the age of 5, I became enamoured by the camera's ability to capture a slice of life.  I pushed the limits of the toy camera.  In my teens, I learned to develop monochromatic film with the help of a dear friend who also loaned me a real 35 mm camera.  In college, I learned that the brain tricks you into allowing you to see what you want to see so when viewing your photograph later, you might scratch your head and have no idea why you made that photograph.  My life's quest has been to have the image look like what I saw "In My Mind's Eye".

I learn by doing, not by formal education - I taught myself various versions of Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop, and I have had mentors since the 1980s who challenged me to push the limits of composition, film, paper and chemistry parameters.  My work has undergone several phases, starting off in the early 1980s exploring in-camera image manipulations.  In the late 1990s, my work started imitating acrylic and oil painting.  Around 2008 my work took on an "out of this world" theme, showing aliens and alien faces and a phase of worldly animal faces emerging from the depths of the canvas, paper print or aluminum piece.  Since the summer of 2014, I have been discovering my current phase of Contemporary Animal Portraits.

My imagery is an outpouring of my inner emotions that are driven by my reactions to life.  Through various types of digital enhancements, I am able to express a feeling, mood and impression.  Most recently, my Reiki energy work is coming through my images to connect with the viewer.  Coupled with my choices of colors, a color therapist and a psychologist have given me testimonials on the healing aspect of my imagery.

Exploration of the unknown and discovering new frontiers in imagery urge me to keep developing my unique style.

It is there, in the software of the computer, where I am finally set free to roam the cosmos of my imagination.  The images shown here represent a new journey of exploration melding my unique interpretative style with the innocence of animals that were willing to let me get close.

Email Art at art@artgerstein.com

CRUIZIN

SNOUT

BIG EYE

BLUE LOVE

CALM

EXCITEMENT

STOP!