Byron Buchanan

As a child I fell in love with art. As soon as I could hold a pencil I became obsessed with drawing. I found myself lost in the art section of the library for hours at a time. I spent years copying the masters with a zeal that shed light on the fact that I obviously had an obsessive compulsive disorder, at least when it came to my art. It was my obsession with detail that led me to photorealism. Looking back, I realize that another reason for my extreme attention to realistic detail was my desire to escape my troubled home life by focusing all of my emotional and mental faculties on something else, my art.

From age 17 to 30 I did not pick up a pencil. After 13 years of trying to pursue a "career" and a normal life I rediscovered my love for art one day when I had some free time and began drawing. I realized I would never be happy unless I was creating art everyday. 30 seems to be a turning point for many, and it was for me. I immediately quit my business and threw myself into art. The result was a creative explosion. I began to explore art like never before.

In my exploration I began to move away from the pencil and started painting. A new artistic liberation seemed to happen with the discovery of paint that came with limitless possibilities. I began to push myself further and try different mediums and subject matter. Now, anything goes when I enter my studio. I love to mix different subject matters and mediums. My work is as varied as life itself. I use acrylics, oils, pencil, ink, various printing processes, spray paint, airbrush, collage, found objects.....whatever I find at my disposal.

The one thing that remains congruent in all of my work is the search for understanding of human and divine nature and the relationship of the two. I constantly search.