Stephen Shooster Artist Page

Jam Band
© 2024 Stephen Shooster

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"Jam Band" Watercolor and Ink 2008 Stephen Shooster (Shoosty)

Thinking about how impressionism started a chain reaction in the art world I imagined a similar action taking place in music. Art and music have always evolved together. For example Jazz, Fusion and the Jam Band scene, unrehearsed, loose, playful just like modern art.

In the painting "Jam Band" the central element is a wild organ with footsie foot pedals and electronic gauges piping the large sound of "Hello Friends". "Hello Friends" is the title to a song by the Flying Flacongas, a fresh sound from a high school jam band. The players are Jason Shooster on lead guitar, Jaime Shooster on Bass and Josh Hoffenberg on the drums. The image is highlighted with a French Horn and a trumpet. All of the elements surround music notation loosely built on the neck of a cubist guitar bent at the neck. It may not be able to play a chord but it connects the painting and a way that keeps your eye moving. It is this very shape that gives the painting cohesion.

The tuners are buttons with a 60's flower design. There is a sign at the bottom "Greatest show on Earth" with a character with glasses. That is Carly Shooster, the observer. She sees everything. On both sides are crazy Chinese numbered clocks. Also words are knitted into the composition. Depicted are Improv, Jam Band, Van Gogh's Ear or not, and Hello Friends. The ear is both a compositional element designed to evoke Van Gogh and an ear that listens to music. A head bounces around as a musical note to complete the image.

This is a wild ride full of a 60's like feeling. The watercolor and ink create precision line work and nice gradations.

Stephen Shooster, born 1958, was educated at the University of Florida in painting. Shoosty is the signature name on all of his paintings.

Born 1958 in Pennsylvania he attended Cherry Hill East High School in New Jersey and completed High School at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, Florida. He went on to earn a degree at the University of Florida in Fine Arts with a focus on Painting.

Stephen is married to Diane and together they have four children, Jason, Jaime, Carly and Cassidy. The kids are each accomplished artists and musicians for there grade levels.

His career is multi-faceted. Upon graduation worked with his father in a family owned business, Global Response. Here he became a telecom engineer and later a software designer. Today, he is a Co-CEO and owner. Some of his accolades include a grant from the State of Michigan to build a Call Center in the Upper Peninsula, renaming a city to Technology River, Michigan; Chief Architect of Palettech CRM software, Chief Architect of HunterGatherer marketing software, A software Patent in CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) with the PSTN and the Internet.

What is repeatedly said about him is that a combination of right brain and left brain activities seem to flow naturally. He is just as comfortable with a math problem as holding a paint brush. The funny thing is that if you ask him about either of these tasks he will describe the elegance behind either action.

He is primarily and painter in Oil, Acrylics and Watercolor. He also is proficient in Photoshop. He is just as comfortable behind a monitor as in front of a canvas.

With all of his business efforts he has NEVER missed a day of creating art work. Quote "It is in the constant repeated act of creation that removes all of the harm done each day of living in a modern world and prepares one for the echos of all time".

His work ranges from Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Digital Arts, Woodworking and Watercolor Pencils. His current style is small with the originals being 14" x 19" The result is intimate. Working with Watercolor Pencils and metallic inks. These images are designed to be printed at large scale on a wide format printer.

As a modern artist working with the latest materials and methods Shoosty's formal understanding of art theory has led to his latest series of works surrounding the Co-Evolution of Music and Art Theory. The idea is that Impressionism, Cubism, and the like have similar themes in modern music and neither music or art evolve in a vacuum but instead have a kind of symbiosis.

Studios of Stephen Shooster

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