Explore Colorful Pieces Reflecting Reality By An Arizona Artist

If art reflects reality, Sherri Belassen makes the case that life is pretty good. Her oil-on-canvas pieces reflect an enthusiasm for color, proportion and a certain joie de vivre that may come from her regular travels to France but may just as easily be a result of her inherent optimism. Either way, Belassen’s artworks speak to the advice she received from an art dealer at the outset of her career: “Don’t paint to match the couch.” Accordingly, Belassen embraces color, proportion and a technique she’s honed over her 35-year career: layering. She often begins an artwork with a sketch, then underpaints it and blocks it in. As she paints, she scrapes away the surface, adds more paint and then scrapes away again. “It provides a depth, a soul where you see where you’ve been,” she explains. “I allow that to show through.” Some themes that viewers may see in Belassen’s work include her love of the human figure (she used to be an athlete), her sense of humor, her perseverance and perhaps even her family. The artist’s two sons are both entrepreneurial and creative: One owns a marketing business; the other owns the Phoenix-based gallery Belhaus, where she primarily shows her work today. Reality, at least for Belassen, seems well worth the reflection.