About the Artist
I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been
drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school,
I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have
a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.
"As I continued studying art, I began to
suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching
students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own
skills exceeded those of my instructors.
"The only field left that seemed to require
good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and
therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in
Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right
decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course
of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in
which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or
use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.
"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon
Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people
who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components
of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own
painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered
worthy of being called Fine Art.
"Since that time, I have studied on my own:
Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting
techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing
a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.
"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic
in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern
setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic
detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."
A Toast to Heroes,
Quent Cordair, May 19, 2001.
A Letter about 'A New
Height', Quent Cordair, September 14, 2001