EAST MEETS WEST IN COLOR
“…working to maintain a spontaneous flow—Buchman doesn’t like art to be overworked or laborious—he strives for universality and immediacy…”
Currently with the Allyn Gallup Gallery in Sarasota, FL, Bill’s abstract and figurative images express something essential. A lifelong student of Eastern and Western metaphysical thought, Bill’s paintings and drawings combine Dadaist and Taoist poetic ideas with the expressiveness of the Zen gesture to create compositions and figures which offer a paradox. The works are bold and assertive yet their openness invites viewers to imagine their own story line. Bill’s Zen method involves tracing the way nature “behaves” rather than just the way it “appears”. As the creative manifestation of the mind of a skilled jazz pianist as well as painter, Bill’s work combines the principles of music, perception, color and drawing in exciting abstracts which have been described as “symphonies of space, form and color” and in fluid figure drawings which have been characterized as ” lightning bursts of energy condensed into a fine line”.
Bill studied painting and drawing with renowned teachers Victor D’Amico at the Museum of Modern Art’s Institute of Modern Art, East Hampton, NY and leading American figurative painter Fletcher Martin at the Albany Institute of Art, in Albany, NY. His brightly colored spontaneous abstractions and expressive figure drawings may be seen widely in private and public collections in Denmark, Sweden, England and the US. Bill attended Cornell University, School of Fine Arts and Boston University, School of Liberal Arts and has a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in music from the New England Conservatory of Music as well. Before moving in 2001 to Sarasota, Florida where he has his studio, Bill worked and exhibited for twenty years in Europe primarily in Scandinavia. Accomplished as both artist and educator, Bill, along with exhibiting his work frequently, gives workshops and seminars around the country on abstract painting and figure drawing, combining Zen and Modernist techniques. Bill has made five popular DVD’s on these subjects and works with Savoir Faire, leading US importer of the finest European art materials, teaching and demonstrating his unique approach. His innovative and popular book, “Expressive Figure Drawing”, published by Watson-Guptill/Random House in 2010, is found in many museum bookstores and is available worldwide. In Florida, Bill has been on the faculty of the Ringling College – Longboat Key Center for the Arts for the last 11 years and now teaches at the Venice Art Center too.
Bill states, ““Art has the power to transport us beyond our everyday experience. It is a way to discover new possibilities and unexpected revelations. These are what I seek to uncover. While my work draws heavily on the Modernist tradition as well as the world of music, the actual “how” of my painting comes principally from the world of Zen. Each painting is a spiritual voyage whose goal is to bring to light what can only be seen, at first, with the inner eye. Thought takes form in paint through action. I use line, color and form as primary expressive tools. I push against boundaries and at the same time I seek harmony. In my figures I explore the expanse that lies between abstraction and representation in order to reveal the music of body and spirit. In my abstracts I dance between freedom and control as I strive to translate my innermost experience into something lyrical and potent.”
SCOPE Winter Forum 2011
Expressive Figure Drawing Exhibition – Longboat Key center For the Arts – 2011
Ringling College Longboat Key Center for the Arts Exhibition
Figuredrawings.com book review
The Expressive Figure Drawing Book – Out Now
Sarasota-Longboat Key Observer, January 6 2010, Online Version
Observer, January 7 2010, Print version
SCOPE Winter Forum 2010
Figure Drawing League 2009 DVD Review
New Times, May 2009, San Luis Obispo
Longboat Key Club Tennis Gardens Exhibition, March/April 2009
Art and Jazz Lecture – Longboat Key 4/9/09
Pelican Press Sarasota, April 2 2009
SCOPE Winter Forum 2009
Art League of Marco Island, February 15 2009
Library Journal Review, June 08
Video Librarian, Online Review, June 08
2008 ADDY Award
American Artist, February 2008
State Of The Arts Gallery Sarasota, December 2006-March 2007
State Of The Arts Sarasota, April-October 2006
Gallerihuset Brochure
Sarasota Magazine, 2005
Lauritzen Rush Gallery Ft. Myers, 2005
International Society of Experimental Artists, 2004
Gallerihuset Summer Exhibition Copenhagen, 2004
Creators and Collectors Tour Sarasota, 2004
Glen Gallery Exhibition Longboat Key, FL, 2003
At The Loft Exhibition Omaha, Nebraska, 2003
Longboat Key Observer Articles, 2001-2005
Courses & Workshop 2001-2004
Gallerie Des Artes Sarasota, 2001-2003
Gallerihuset Copenhagen, 1993-2001
Gallerihuset Copenhagen, 2000
Galleri Aalborghallen Aalborg, Denmark, 1999
Gallerihuset Copenhagen, 1998
KunstKorridoren Nådada, Copenhagen, 1996
Landskrona Konsthall, Sweden, 1995
Galleri Caramel Helsingborg, Sweden, 1994
Galleri Anesen Hilleroed, Denmark, 1992
Gammelgaard Herlev, Denmark, 1992
Designcompaniet Copenhagen, 1991
Gallery Gaia Copenhagen, 1987
Blomsten Copenhagen, 1986
