TERESA GOSTANZA                                    Surrealist. Currently residing in Denver, Colorado ARTIST STATEMENT I am a Spanish artist who creates surrealistic images primarily with oils and acrylics on canvas. My subject matter originates from fragmented dreams, subconscious images and spontaneous thoughts. I generally sketch these images down on scrap paper. When I first start on a piece I draw the focal images directly onto the canvas using charcoal. I either see the image completed before I begin or the image evolves day by day with a touch of uncertainty of what is to come. I never restrict my images to any specific idea or thought. As my work progresses I become part of its reality and experience a strong emotional connection as if being one with the image. The experience allows my soul to blend and fuse with the piece. The Landsend cliffs of England and the Australian deserts and coastlines primarily inspire the landscapes I create with a touch of Spanish influence. The animals I paint are part of my dreams where they roam the familiar and unfamiliar surreal boundaries from within. I am known for adding a symbolic image of an egg in my pieces, whether it’s flowering out of a rose or a translucent moon. Sometimes as obscure as a droplet. The two artists that inspired me at a very young age were Australian Russell Drysdale with his desolate desert scenes and Salvador Dali’s surrealistic psychic automation of expression. BIOGRAPHY Originally from Spain, I was raised in Australia where I studied art at Swinburne Technical School and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I then moved to Spain for several years and became inspired by the culture and Moorish architecture still noticeable in the southern regions. My husband and I later moved to England where I concentrated on a variety of watercolors under the guidance of Alastair Paterson a watercolor landscape artist. Both my surrealist paintings and watercolors were distributed throughout galleries and generated commissions including from private collectors and the Commonwealth Holiday Inn hotel chain. I currently reside in Colorado, where I continue to have ongoing shows and private commissions. I have recently started a limited edition of s/n giclees on paper and canvas. My work has been shown and sold in Australia, Spain, England and the US.