The artistic career of Adam Van Doren began early. As a young child, he drew elaborate cartoons and eventually developed them into a comic strip which was published in local newspapers in Evanston, Illinois, where he was raised. Later, as his aspirations grew more serious, he studied architecture at Columbia University, where Van Doren’s professor, Robert A. M. Stern ( now a dean at Yale,) encouraged him to study the Beaux Arts technique of watercolor rendering. Fusing his passion for both architecture and art, Van Doren explored various cities, capturing their essence by depicting buildings with his own individual style. Primarily working en plein air, he often deliberately left certain areas of his picture unfinished, allowing the “painting to develop organically,” and giving the viewer a chance to fill in the rest of the image.

Currently, Adam Van Doren is exhibiting his work at the Renaissance Studios in Manhattan at 130 West 57th Street until December 18th (212 586-8342). The collection of forty five paintings is presented on masonite board, canvas and wood panel. Most of the 
paintings are of Venice, London, Paris and Rome, where he was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in 2005. Venice is one of Van Doren’s favorite areas to paint because of the open squares which give Van Doren a larger perspective of his subject. The artist explained that New York City is a difficult location to paint in, because of its myriad distractions such as Fedex trucks which frequently block his view, minutes after setting up his painting materials.

Adam Van Doren has exhibited often, but he still draws inspiration from the visitors to his shows. He is excited to interact with them, and interested to learn their reaction to certain pictures. During the artistic process, he pushes himself to produce as much as he can, because, as he says, it is a “luxury to wait for inspiration.” During the preparation, planning and mounting of an exhibit, there are few moments for Van Doren to paint. However, it does leave him time to visit other artists’exhibits and re-evaluate his own work.

~Affluent Page