Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Community Gallery, First Floor
Masla’s collages juxtapose contemporary art tools such as the digital camera and Photoshop software program with painterly techniques that he has cultivated over his 30 year career. By printing and painting on the canvas, Masla creates work that is both abstract and hyper-realistic. He keeps the viewer engaged by alternating passages of painted texture with images of everyday objects in his work. At times it is a challenge to discern between the painted and the digitally enhanced areas.
The integration of old and new reflects Masla’s philosophy that that the there are no rules and that each artist should use whatever tools are available for his or her creative expression. A student of Alton S. Tobey, Masla learned to paint in a realistic manner and to use his own photographs as resource material at an early age. Mixing It Up: Digital Collage Paintings by Robert Masla is a culmination of many years of work and integrates his early lessons with contemporary thought and expression. His quest for personal truth and his ever-evolving spiritual life continue to inform his work.