DORIAN ITEN

SHORT BIOGRAPHY
I was born in Austria in 1985 to my Swiss mother and Polish father. After living in Switzerland since the age of five I moved to Florence, Italy in January 2006 to study under Maestro Micheal John Angel and Jered Woznicki at the Angel Academy of Art.

I train passionately to become a professional painter and illlustrator.

Growing up near a forest I have had a deep love for nature for as long as I can remember. Also, in early childhood I was impressed with the self-discipline and accomplishments of Shaolin Monks – something felt right about this self cultivation and I started paying attention to my actions and decisions in everyday life.
I seem to be blessed (or cursed?) with a deep interest in “the human experience”, an insatiable curiosity that urges me to question and disobey and ask and think and change and seek and grow. Art, drawing and painting is my means to exploring and understanding life.

INFLUENCES

click the images to enlarge

A vast variety of artists inspire and influence my working and thinking. Among them are many of the “Old Masters” of painting, but also musicians, writers, photographers, actors, dancers, etc. To name a few:
Velázquez, Bonnat, Vermeer, Millais, Rubens, Bouguereau, Prud’hon, Mucha .
Some of the contemporary artists that are meaningful to me are included in the “Inspiration” link-list to the right of this page. There are SO MANY brothers and sisters.

The writings of Andrew Loomis, Robert Beverly Hale and Harold Speed, among others, have proved to be very stimulating & instructive.

LEARNING HOW TO DRAW
The more I learn to use my eyes the more beauty I can see in this startling world we live in. The idea of boredom has become very strange and foreign. I try to keep a sketchbook with me most of the time and draw whatever catches my attention, comes to my mind or touches my heart. To me, truth, beauty and love all belong together inseparably and merging with them again and again through creating is what keeps my fire burning.

Becoming good at drawing demands practice. There are uncountable similarities to music and – maybe surprisingly at first – the martial arts. Learning any art involves the mind just as much as the hand. Constant introspection is as important as the actual process of drawing & painting. Also, one needs to have goals, a vision.

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” _-Seneca

My vision is to inspire.