Robert Pavon

Artist:  Robert Pavon

Genre:  Realism

Motifs:  Portrait & Figurative, Still Life

Medium:  Acrylics

His Art:

Robert Pavon is a recent art graduate, completing an illustrious career at Florida Gulf Coast University in 2014. At the FGCU 16th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition in April, Pavon was one of four SW Florida Fine Craft Guild Award of Excellence recipients and had one of his paintings, Searching for My Soul (right), purchased by the Cohen Center Advisory Board, a partnership of students, faculty and staff that solicits and evaluates input from all members of the University community regarding the operation, growth, programming and permanent art collection on display at the Student Union.

As a junior, Pavon took home an Award for Artistic Endeavor at FGCU’s 15th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition. In fact, his painting of Professor Carl Schwartz was a popular gathering spot for the artist, his exuberant family and the more than 200 people who jammed into the Art Gallery at FGCU for the opening night of the 2013 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition.

Robert works primarily in the medium of acrylics on canvas. A realist, he is as accomplished in still lifes as he is in portraiture.

“I like to work in layers when I paint and usually [work] wet on wet,” says Robert of his process. “This is a common form of painting where one uses layers called glazes of thin paint to get the color you want. I always start with a black and white graphite sketch. I go over that sketch with charcoal to darken it and add values by smudging it with my fingers. I take the drawing to a very finished state because I use it as my grisaille. Some grisailles are done in paint but I find that this technique is much faster and just as good. I then fix the drawing with final fixative so it will not smudge when paint is applied. I follow that with a thin wash to the background and a thin wash of burnt sienna and a touch of alizarin crimson for the flesh. Using a dry blender brush I go over the flesh and even it out.”

Pavon does his washes in acrylic so they will dry fast. He has even been known to place a fan in front of a painting to speed up its drying time. Then a couple of hours later, he returns to apply the darks and mid tones to the head, blending as he goes to smooth out the brush strokes.

“I work only in small areas, leaving them finished before I move on,” he notes. “For mid tones I use yellow ochre, vermilion, white, and a touch of black. For the lights I use vermilion with white and yellow ochre with white. These two highlights are placed while paint is wet and blended in. At the second sitting I repeat the process or only apply the highlights that were obliterated in the last step.”

Robert was the only male painter to participate in the Fort Myers Founding Females portrait exhibition. For that show, he did a rendering of 27-year owner of the Fort Myers News-Press Olive Stout (right).

Robert was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1975. He spent his childhood drawing . But at eighteen, he put art on hold, joining the United States Marine Corps, where he served 13 years in the infantry. He often incorporates his service in the Corps and appreciation for life into his art and point of view. Following his discharge, Robert enrolled at Edison State College, where he was awarded a scholarship for his work. He received his associates in art in 2012 and then transferred to FGCU to complete his art studies.

“Robert is a gifted, talented artist,” confides Portrait and Figure Painters Society of SW Florida President Renate M. Reuter, who predicts that “collectors. gallery owners, directors and curators throughout Southwest Florida and beyond are going to see great things from Robert in the years to come.”

1. 

   Doris Herdman says:

   January 7, 2016 at 10:35 pm

   He is an absolutely amazing artist!! I am so impressed with his work!!

   reply