Pecha-Kucha Presentation - St Petersburg, Florida

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Robert Neff: Artist Bio

While cubism and abstract art were my early influences, I had always been drawn to geometrics and their palettes found in both nature’s organic life and inanimate objects.

Robert Neff is an accomplished photographer, contemporary artist and writer. His approach and style create an energy that engages the senses. His work is "Art with a Story; Art with a Vision!”

Robert Neff has produced several photographic and contemporary art collections. Some of his work is available online at http://www.5thworldart.com. His writing can be viewed at http://www.dalpress.com. He has completed his first work of prose, Selected Works from Reconnecting With Life.  

An Ohio native, he was influenced by his Appalachian roots, the parks Ohio has to offer, his travels and where he has lived in North Carolina, Washington DC, Dallas, and Laguna Beach. Since 2007, he has resided in St Petersburg, Florida.  

As a child, his parents enrolled him in art classes at the city art center. He continued to develop in the public school’s art program. However, Robert had always been drawn to and intrigued by geometric patterns as seen in everyday living. While he enjoyed drawing, his doodles always returned to his fascination with geometrics shapes.  

Several of his works were selected for the Dayton Art institute’s children exhibit. However, a difference of opinion with his art instructor caused his interest in art to wane. He continued to take classes but had abandoned his goal to become a commercial artist. In his twenties he purchased a Nikon FG and became

a self-taught photographer.

But his creativity was looking for an outlet, which he found in Internet design, marketing and operations. He has led the build–out of several top Internet retailers. After being laid off in 2001 he began to organize his photography collection and explored writing vignettes and prose.  

While in Laguna Beach in early 2007, he returned from an evening surf. He found inspiration organizing the past month’s photos. Over the next eighteen months, he honed theses distinctive, new and unique styles called Natural Patterns, Kaleidoscopography and The Zurich Collection.

Robert Neff: Artist Statement

While cubism and abstract art were my early influences, I had always been drawn to geometrics and their palettes found in both nature’s organic life and inanimate objects.

In 2007, I explored contemporary art, using my photography as the base-medium. The original image’s hues and tonal properties created an energy that attracts the mind and spirit. My work possesses a distinctive style and energy that engages the senses, seemingly bringing my influences full circle.   

As a photographer, my work is about vision. Basically I am a purist! I describe my photography as, “You see what I see. My work stands on its own merit.” I do not use digital enhancement techniques, such as HDR. However, as one might adjust the light in a darkroom, I have digitally lightened a very limited number of photos.  

As a contemporary artist, my medium is Photography-Based Contemporary Art. My work is distinctive and recognizable! I have spent two exhausting years defining three styles: Natural Patterns, Kaleidoscopography and Zurich Collection. The colors and tones are based upon the original image. How I transform the image to produce the work is what defines my work!