Tony Hammer of Hammer Fine Art: The Pure Love of Painting

There are many reasons an artist continues to paint for decades. For me, the most important one is also the most personal: I love painting.

That statement is simple, but what it means to me is not. Painting has been a major part of my life for decades, and I still experience the same attraction to the creative process that brought me to the canvas in the first place. I enjoy the uncertainty of beginning with a blank surface. I enjoy making decisions as the work takes shape. Most of all, I enjoy creating something that did not exist before.That is the pure love of modern abstract painting. 

 

 

I don't begin with a finished image in my head and then attempt to reproduce it. I begin with a canvas, paint, brushes, palette knives and an open mind. Then I begin. I make the decisions as I work. I decide where the color goes, how much movement a composition needs, where a passage requires more intensity and where something needs to be changed. The modern original abstract painting does not create itself.

I create the painting.

That is one of the reasons modern abstract art has always been such a natural form of expression for me. explore my original Painting. gives me the freedom to work with color, movement, texture, proportion and composition without being restricted to reproducing a recognizable subject.

I also do not title a painting until it is finished. I want the title to belong to the work I actually created, not to an idea I had before the first stroke ever touched the canvas.

Two Sides of My Artistic Expression

One of the things I believe makes me an outstanding artist is the range of my work.

I create abstract original art that are powerful, heavy and intensely energetic. Some have tremendous force and visual weight. They are meant to command attention. They can be aggressive in their energy without being chaotic, because the intensity is controlled through composition, color and movement. Then there is the other side of my work.

 

I also create paintings that are tranquil, quieter and more reflective. But tranquil does not mean static.

Even in my quieter paintings, I want movement and motion to remain present. I don't want a peaceful painting to become static. It can be mellow and still have life running through it.

That ability to move from powerful to tranquil while retaining a recognizable artistic identity is an important part of my work.

You can see that range throughout my original abstract paintings where the paintings vary in size, character and emotional intensity.

And when I finish a piece, I believe it is truly beautiful to look at.

I have no problem using the word beautiful. Beauty is subjective, but that doesn't make it meaningless. In fact, it is one of the most direct ways people respond to art. A painting can be sophisticated, technically demanding and intellectually interesting while also being beautiful.

My reviews by collectors reflect that response. Collectors have described my work as beautiful, stunning, spectacular and full of energy. Those words are meaningful to me because they come from people who are actually living with the paintings.

Impact in Every Stroke™

That is what Impact in Every Stroke™ means to me.The impact is created with every stroke.

Every color choice, every movement of the brush or palette knife, every change in texture and every adjustment to the composition contributes to the final work. Some marks are bold. Others are subtle. Some paintings carry extraordinary visual weight, while others create a much calmer atmosphere. But every stroke matters.

The finished modern abstract painting is the result of those decisions. Then someone else sees it. That is one of the greatest rewards of being an artist. I can become completely absorbed in creating a painting, but when someone eventually looks at the finished work and says, “I can't stop staring at it,” that means something to me.

It means that what I created on the canvas reached another person. That is why I wrote Redefining Abstract Art with Impact in Every Stroke™ and The First Ten Minutes: Where Art is Won or Lost. Both deal with different aspects of the creative process, but the underlying idea is the same: meaningful art does not happen by accident.

The Difference an Original Painting Makes

There is also a fundamental difference between seeing an image of a painting and owning the original.

An original modern painting is a singular object. The actual canvas contains the physical marks, layers, textures and decisions made by the artist. There is no second canvas that is precisely the same.

 

That is why I place so much importance on the Original Abstract Investment Art available through Hammer Fine Art.

For some collectors, the appeal begins with the visual experience. They see a piece of original modern. The finished painting is the result of those decisions.

Then someone else sees it. That is one of the greatest rewards of being an artist. I can become completely absorbed in creating a painting, but when someone eventually looks at the finished work and says, “I can't stop staring at it,” that means something to me. It means that what I created on the canvas reached another person.

That is why I wrote Redefining Abstract Art with Impact in Every Stroke™ and The First Ten Minutes: Where Art is Won or Lost. Both deal with different aspects of the creative process, but the underlying idea is the same: meaningful art does not happen by accident.

The Difference an Original Painting Makes

There is also a fundamental difference between seeing an image of a painting and owning the original. An original modern painting is a singular object. The actual canvas contains the physical marks, layers, textures and decisions made by the artist. There is no second canvas that is precisely the same.

That is why I place so much importance on the Original Modern Abstract Collectiion available through Hammer Fine Art.

For some collectors, the appeal begins with the visual experience. They see a piece of original modern art and immediately know that it belongs in their home or office.

For others, the question goes deeper. They want to understand the artist, the history, the body of work and what gives an original painting significance over time.

 

That is the subject of What Makes Tony Hammer of Hammer Fine Art Investment Grade? and my The Hammer modern art collection. 

I have also written Can You Spot the Original?, because the distinction between an original work and a reproduction deserves more attention than it usually gets. But collecting art doesn't require an academic vocabulary.

I've heard people say, “I don't know anything about art,” countless times. That is one reason I wrote I Don't Know Anything About Art – Six Words I've Heard Across America.

You don't need a degree in art history to recognize a painting that affects you. You simply have to look at it.

A Career and Reputation Built Around the Art

My relationship with art extends across decades. I owned a gallery at 25, spent years around major works of modern art, and have had my own paintings collected by successful business people, physicians, attorneys, executives, celebrities and other prominent collectors.

I am comfortable describing myself as a famous and renowned artist because those words are supported by a career, a body of work and the people who have chosen to own it. A reputation cannot be created simply by printing impressive words on a website. It is established over time.

My Tony Hammer biography tells more of that history, while my reviews by collectors reviews by collectors page lets the people who have actually purchased my work speak for themselves.

That distinction matters to me. An artist can describe his own work in glowing terms, but ultimately the painting has to stand on its own. When a collector tells me that a painting is beautiful, that he cannot stop looking at it, or that he intends to buy more, I know the work has accomplished something that no description alone can accomplish. That is the kind of reputation I value: one that is built through the art itself.

An Online Art Gallery That Never Closes

I've had a website for years. Today, Hammer Fine Art gives collectors a much more complete way to experience the work online.

The site functions as an online art gallery where people can examine paintings, see them presented in professionally designed interiors, read about individual works, learn about me, explore collector reactions and move from one painting to another.

The goal is not simply to put pictures online. It is to give the collector enough information to make an informed decision.

That is also why I wrote Modern Original Paintings Direct from the Artist and Buying Original Modern Abstract Art Has Never Been Easier.

Hammer Fine Art is an online art gallery available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A collector can reach the site at any time, whether they are looking at art early in the morning, late at night or somewhere in the middle of the day.

Purchases can be made through the website whenever the collector is ready. And the audience is not limited to one city.

I sell nationwide and internationally, and collectors can discover my work from anywhere in the United States or around the world. That broader reach is part of the reason I've written Modern Art for Sale: Collected Nationwide.

For someone interested in the relationship between original art and interior design, The Artist's Vision and the Designer's Eye explores another side of that process.

The Love of Painting Is Still the Beginning

The website matters. Collectors matter. The business of art matters. Reputation matters. But none of those things explains why I continue to paint. The reason is still the same.

I love creating.

I love the concentration required to make a painting. I love working with color, texture and movement. I love creating a painting that can be powerful and intense, and I love creating one that is tranquil while still retaining its motion.

And I love the moment when I step back from a completed painting and know that I have created something truly beautiful.

Then comes the part that gives me another kind of satisfaction:

• Someone else sees it.
• They may say it is beautiful.
• They may call it gorgeous.
• They may tell me they cannot stop looking at it.
• They buy it and make it part of their home, office or collection.
• That reaction gives me genuine joy because it tells me that what I created has connected with another person.
• That is the pure love of painting.
• And that is Impact in Every Stroke™.