MIDDLETOWN—Artist Michael Tobin showed very personal works of art in his first one-person exhibit, which ran in January at SUNY Orange.
He came to his art from a more commercial side of the visual arts—graphic design. “Graphic design was a very hands-on kind of career,” he said.
His life took a turn when graphic design went digital. “I felt that there wasn’t anything in my hands anymore,” Tobin said. “Once everything went to computers my hands were at a loss at what to do.”
Tobin’s talented hands turned to oil painting. At his home in Goshen, he paints from photographs, but he learned his craft in life drawing classes at the National Academy of Design in New York. “This informs my process when I work from photography, telling me when to lighten shade, emphasize a shadow halftone, when to go cool or warm or soften an edge,” he explained in his artist statement for the exhibition.
