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Robert Sturman, a young Santa Monica artist-photographer, is donating several of his unique photographs to MusiCares for a silent auction on Friday, February 6, at Sony Studios in Culver City. The event will honor Sting, long a champion of humanitarian and environmental causes, as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The tribute dinner, concert and auction are a run-up to the 46th annual Grammy Awards on February 8.
Established in 1989 by the Recording Academy, MusiCares provides a safety net for people in the music community who are confronted by a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies. Their programs help with everything from paying for a musician's funeral when the family has no money to helping those who are addicted to drugs.
Sturman, a long-time Santa Monica resident, is a world traveler whose art captures the many unusual flavors of life as seen by his artist's eye. From the streets of Cuba to the temples of Kathmandu to the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Sturman has documented the human drama. His travels, and his subjects, are also in Hawaii, Sicily, Memphis, Copenhagen, Mexico, India. His work has been exhibited in California galleries from San Francisco to San Diego.
His technique combines the immediacy of Polaroid photography with the spontaneity of creative inspiration. Sturman uses a type of instant film that has a flexible chemistry, which allows for carving and scratching movements directly on the film. All of his images are created on site immediately after the exposure is made. It is only after the artist feels the image has reached a level of mastery in composition, light, subject matter, and intention, that he will integrate the painterly process.
Recently Sturman was contacted by MusiCares personnel asking him to make a donation for the silent auction. "When I read their mission statement I was touched," he said. "Having witnessed many artists fall through the cracks as they walked the fragile line of creativity, I was moved by the fact that there was such an organization offering aid. I have seen many artists go down the road of self-destruction without knowing where to turn."
Sturman decided to make a donation of more than $10,000 worth of his artwork. The donation includes four of his 4 feet x 4 feet pieces: "Walking Monks," "The Bluesman," "Juke Joint" and "Street Musician from Copenhagen." It also includes two smaller pieces depicting Cuban musicians.
Visits to Sturman's Santa Monica studio can be arranged by appointment. Contact him via e-mail: robert@robertsturmanstudio.com.
PHOTO: "Walking Monks" by Robert Sturman. |