Art, Music, Books, Internet, Cinema
Dorian Cleavenger born in Massachusetts, he grew up in New Jersey where, during his school years he gained a reputation not only for his artistic abilities but as well for his inquisitive nature and acute observational character.... the latter two which proved to complement and enhance the first. Immediately after graduation from high school he was accepted into The Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts; although it was to be a short romance. After a few weeks he quit the school out of frustration, it seemed that classes weren't challenging enough and was enveloped in boredom. One example was the required class on Perspectives, the technique of depicting volumes and spacial relationships on a flat surface. At the end of the class the teacher sharply criticized the students' results, indicating and showing Dorian's as the only accurately drawn example. Though he said nothing then, he admitted to his family that he just drew it by gut feeling and didn't bother with the theory and measurement of angles, vanishing points, etc. He also said it took away from the creativity of drawing and made it into an exact science, and in art, if it looks right then it is right. Evidently he had been observing on his own for years how perspective naturally appeared and simply employed it on his own assignment.
In subsequent years, during which time he moved first to Ohio then to Pittsburgh, he did custom airbrush painting of cars, motorcycles and vans, built hot rods, as well as playing guitar, singing and composing music while with several rock bands (which experience made him acutely aware of the shortcomings of so called "teamwork" as opposed to being self reliant). Determining to get into the art field, he decided to attend The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. While attending that school, he received numerous awards, acclamations, scholarships and honors......all of which coupled with the encouragement of his instructors, reinforced in him the idea that he would be successful as a full time freelance artist.
Initially he did work as a freelancer for many corporations. Though earning a good living, Dorian still felt inhibited by being subjected to the requirements and dictates of others with their concepts which left him no opportunity for self expression nor an outlet for the ideas that lay within him and that demanded a forum. In his spare time he did a few experimental paintings which caught the eye of a comic book publisher who immediately commissioned him to paint several covers. One thing led to another and soon Dorian was painting covers and fully painted stories for many major publishers in that arena. Still, his most successful ones were those in which he was given free rein to create his version of the characters and scenes. Dorian yet felt constrained by the dictates of the situations and character representations, wanting above all to break free and do his own completely creative work. He has always been appreciative of the comic book industry for spreading his images and name among their public and in effect not only paying him to do the covers, but through them and conventions really advertising him and his work at the same time. Such exposure has prompted individual commissioned work, magazine articles about him and gallery expositions of Dorian's creative paintings in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago with others soon to follow.
The Internet with Dorian's web site, www.dorianart.com, has been a great medium for exposing his art not only to the country, but throughout the world as well. Now based in Los Angeles, he has sold paintings to collectors in several European nations, Asia, as well as numerous sales domestically. It has been, in Dorian's opinion, far superior to the limitations of a gallery show with the constraints of a limited viewership, although he still fully expects to do more gallery exhibitions in the future. Besides his original paintings, Dorian offers prints of his original works for purchase through his web site.
Dorian's unique approach to art has arrived at an opportune time when there appears to exist a generational void clamoring to be filled and with the popularity of the Internet. It seems today's youth are less avid followers of the greats who established Fantasy Art as a popular movement some years back, but seem instead to find in Dorian's work a different perspective and a refreshing new light in that arena..... perhaps an aspect that is a bit "Beyond Fantasy".
Metal, Hard Rock
Occult