Icon Paintings "spontaneous realism"

Voka, born in 1965, lives and works in the Lower Austrian town of Puchberg am Schneeberg.  He coined the term "Spontaneous Realism" as a trademark for his art. Voka defines this style as a revival of the significance of contemporary art, a valued tradition in a new era, with a new interpretation reflecting today´s spirit of the time.



Students study this style of art, focusing on the artist himself as well as new renounced style of art.  Each student is asked to choose an iconic figure of either the past or present.  Students create a list of at least 10 people that they would consider for this assignment and then select one.  Students then start by creating a basic sketch of their chosen person.  This is to help them practice drawing proportions of their iconic person.  After creating sketches, students will each be given a canvas where they will experiment with palette knives as well as pieces of cardboard.  With those tools they will spread 3 colors of paint all over the canvas (2 primary and 1 secondary color).  After the paint has dried they will then take a pastel or chalk and lightly sketch out the portrait of their person (a simple gesture drawing).  After they complete that they will paint in their figure's face, using abstract colors and composition.  This is what 8th graders created.