Voyage LA: Meet Patrick Dintino

Voyage LA Staff:

Today we'd like to introduce you to Patrick Dintino.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in San Francisco, CA and grew up during the transition of the Bay Area from orchards and open fields to the business parks of a booming Silicon Valley. After living in Southern California and starting a band called Naked Earth, I embraced earth consciousness, championing many environmental causes. My paintings and collage reflect the blurred boundaries of this changing landscape. The color pulsations and patterns of ephemera also express the impact on our psyche of the multitude of images and persuasive influences of popular culture. I want to translate this experience energetically. With blends of color and space, I can identify a unique and timely ideal or desire in a visceral engagement. My paintings explore the complex dance of environment and technology and our inescapable connection with the information age. Just as we are mesmerized by glowing imagery from electronic media, my work hypnotizes us with breathing colored light that distills perceptions of pleasure and impermanence.

​Please tell us about your art
I apply oil on canvas using brushes to seamlessly blend colors sampled from everyday experiences and popular media imagery. This technique results in vivid paintings comprised of diffused color bands. These bands form a color-coded framework that allows me to develop a visual language for examining the shifting nature of human perception.
In my latest show, I examine the concept of what "all inclusive" means in modern-day America. Through a series of life-size paintings, I use color spectrums and perceptual distortions to represent changing beliefs about ethnic and national identities. I create color patterns of varying lengths to reflect disparities in access to opportunity in the United States. Ultimately, by using this color code as a visual language, I explore what it means for US society to be inclusive during a time of rising separatism.

Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
Have many skills to draw from. I teach abstract painting at California College of the Arts, and I have graphic design experience so I can fill in some income when I need it, and it is also helpful in presenting my artwork.