Hrehov's Art
The inspiration for John’s paintings and drawings comes from many sources – nature, poetry, toys, biblical images, and Midwest scenes. "The inspiration for the flat aspects of my paintings are based on contrast and comparison," says Hrehov. "Most of the objects I use are depicted with an emphasis on looking three dimensional. I then contrast that aspect with an environment or surrounding which is opposite or rather flat. The flat areas provide opportunities to explore using color in a more expressive and sometimes artificial manner. I'm interested in the tensions created between depicting two and three dimensions with equal importance on the same plane."
In many cases, Hrehov does a charcoal drawing before the painting. "It helps me get a sense of the shading. Then I can use color to show light and dark and to show a contrast."
He makes his initial sketch on tracing paper and then either transfers it directly onto his surface (which is usually canvas or a l/8"-thick Masonite panel) by covering the back of the drawing with graphite and retracing the lines onto the support or enlarging it on a photocopier and then transferring it in the same manner. He prepares his surface in a number of ways, including applying Winsor & Newton underpainting white over a glue size or troweling a smooth layer of acrylic gesso onto the surface with an aluminum ruler or a plastic binder from a notebook.
