JOHN SHLICHTA

Visual Art – Portland

John Shlichta is a transplant to Portland, via Seattle, and New York City. He grew up in the Los Angeles harbor town of San Pedro, California, where the influence of his large and wacked family, allowed him to cultivate a love of all things abstract, overlooked, abandoned and forgotten. His somewhat recent obsession with SCHERENSCHNITTE...or paper cutting...began a handful of years ago with several productions of shadow puppet plays for family and friends. He looks to nature in its infinite structures, systems, and processes to find metaphores to describe the many facets of the human condition.... Currently he is working on a cycle of large-scale graphite drawings on the theme of man\'s search for enlightenment...inspired so many years ago by a teenage visit to Washington D.C.\'s National Gallery...where he saw Thomas Cole\'s series of beautiful oil paintings entitled \"The Voyage of Life\"...They will be hung at the Eastbank Commerce Center late spring/early summer...