Personal Statement of Philosophy of Work

My day begins with a quickly drawn pen and ink sketch in my journal. I started this daily diary in February, 1994. My wife, Pat, and I were in the lobby of the Taj Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, waiting for a taxi to take us to the airport. We were traveling to our next home in Djibouti, a French speaking country in the Horn of Africa.

For twenty years, I traveled, lived and painted in Asia and Africa. I setup my artist studios in Calcutta, Zanzibar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Djibouti, Kenya and Angola. My studio has always been where we lived and is currently in our 1915 arts and craft house in South Carolina.

Born in Greenwich Village, I was raised in a Hudson Street painter’s studio. Victor Scala, my father, was a New York cubist artist. He shared studio space with the abstract expressionist, Franz Kline. It is to my father, Franz Kline, and art classes with Mrs. Margot A. Gregor at grade school PS 41, that I owe my early involvement with art, painting, and surrealism.

I am primarily a self taught surrealist painter. Influenced by Picasso and Miró, I create from my experiences and thoughts. The impact of Asia and Africa upon my work is considerable. My work presents my surrealist view of the cultures in which I live and paint. I do not paint what I see. I paint what I feel.

“Fancy Dress in the Weather” illustrates the vibrant colors in my oil paintings. I am a colorist, a Fauvist. Colors add distinct touches. In this painting, the colors define the weather, her dress, and her cat in the basket. What on Earth is she doing wearing a fancy dress in the rain, carrying a cat in her basket?

Examine “Judgement”. The blues glow; the blacks are matte and deep. This is the result of egg tempera, an ancient painting technique dating back to the ninth century. In 1983, I studied tenth to thirteenth century tempera panels in Siena, Italy. Over the next 20 years, I continued to refine my proficiency. My own egg tempera blend is a mix of water, egg yolk and powdered paint. I paint it onto a gessoed panel using short strokes called hatching (/////) which can result in more than 30 layers of paint on the panel. I find the cool, soft glow and the exacting nature of this medium pleasing; and the colors compelling.

- Peter Scala