Ron Hicks was born in 1965 in Ohio, and lives and paints in Denver, Colorado. He is best known for his figures and interiors and his work has been described as a blend of representational art and impressionism. Art critics have compared his painting to those by Rembrandt and Daumier. His greatest influences are Sargent, Degas and Velasquez. Ron uses a muted palette and rarely uses pure color. He particularly favors gray as it allows him to “capture atmosphere, mood, and layers of emotion.” His painterly style is immediately recognizable and a favorite of collectors around the country.

Ron graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art and studied at the Art Students League under Quang Ho before he began teaching. His works have been the subject of many publications, including Southwest Art (4 articles since 2000; Artist to Watch 1998), International Artist (Sept 2001, “7 Foundational Truths of Traditional Academic Painting” by C.W. Mundy), American Artist (December 2001, Feature Artist), Art & Antiques (May 2000, “Emerging Artist-Ron Hicks”), Denver Post (Oct 1998), Art Talk (February 2000; October 1998), and Westword (June 1994, “Seeing is Believing”).

Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He Immigrated to the United States in 1975 and is now a U.S. Citizen. His artistic interest began at the early age of three and continued through grade school, high school, art school and led him to a very exciting and successful painting profession. In 1980, at the age of 16, Quang held his first one-man-show at Tomorrows Masters Gallery in Denver Colorado. In 1982, Quang’s mother was killed in a tragic auto accident, leaving him the responsibility of raising four younger brothers and a six-year-old sister. That same year, Quang attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a National Scholastics Art Awards Scholarship. At CIA Quang studied painting under Rene Bruhin, whom Quang credits with developing the foundation for his artistic understanding. Ho graduated from CIA in 1985 with Best Portfolio Award for the graduating class.

Ho started his career in the art world as a highly successful freelance illustrator from 1985-1990. Ho’s illustration works have been featured in the Illustrators Annual and exhibited at the Museum of American Illustrations, and the Communication Arts Illustrations Annual during those years.

His passion, however, was oil paintings and he found time to pursue those paintings alongside of the illustrations. Those works were noticed by Saks Gallery in Denver and Ho was invited to hold his first solo show. The exhibit was a sold-out success, and he went on to have many sell out shows the following years in Denver, Houston, San Francisco and London. Working mostly in oils and occasionally watercolor and pastels, Ho’s subject matter ranges from still-life, landscapes, interiors, and dancers, to figuratives. “Subject matter is not really important to me. I can find visual excitement all around me as well as on the canvas – from a knot on a tree, graceful limp of a flower wilting, to a juxtaposition of a few simple shapes and colors…inspirations are inexhaustible.”

Ho is much sought after to give lectures and workshops around the world. He has produced a number of teaching DVDs and is currently working on a book of his philosophy and work.

Education: Colorado Institute of Art; Rene Bruhin.

Teaching: Art Students League of Denver; numerous workshops in the US and Europe.

Awards and Honors: Master Signature grand prize award, Impressionist Painters of America, 2012; Main Speaker, Portrait Society of America, 2012; “30 Stars of 30 Years,” Southwest Art, 2001; Third Annual Realism Invitational, 2001; Best of Show, Colorado Governor’s Show, 2000; Artist Choice Award, Denver Rotary Club, Artists of America Show; Master Signature grand prize award, Oil Painters of America Show, Taos.

Publications: The Artist’s Bluebook by AskArt.com, 2001; Featured Artist, Southwest Art, 2001; Art of the West Guidebook of Western Artists, 2001; Art of the West, 2001; Southwest Art, 2000;

Selected Exhibitions: Great American Artists, Cincinnati, OH; Artists of America, Denver, CO; Colorado Governor’s Invitational, Denver, CO; Northwest Rendezvous of Art, Helena, MT; International Masters of Fine Art, Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art, San Antonio, TX; Jack Meir Gallery, Houston, TX; Saks Gallery, Denver, CO;

Representation: Gallery 1261; Claggett/Rey Gallery

Clyde Steadman studied at the Art Students League of Denver and has studied with artists like Daniel Sprick, Quang Ho, and Mark Daily.  Now teaches at the League.  His paintings have been featured in such varied settings as The Wynkoop Restaurant, Gallery Stain, Pirate Contemporary Art, Artists on Santa Fe, Terra Firma, Zip 37, Rich Designs in Colorado Springs, and Red Rocks Community College. Currently he has work on display at McCall Fine Art on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, NM. In Florida, his work showed at the L2 Gallery. He has also been featured at the Fine Arts Gallery at St. John’s College in Santa Fe and the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos New Mexico. HIs work is regularly on display at Abend and Art Images in Denver, Colorado. The best way to reach him is by email at [email protected]

ABOUT A. E. BARNES

I was never interested in painting or drawing when I was little. I wanted to read books and study the night sky. I loved to re-decorate my room, and move the furniture around. I was more interested in cerebral things and studied Philosophy and Comparative Religion at the University of West Florida. That was a long, long time ago. Since then, I have fallen in love with the ideas in anthropology, mythology, and mysticism; especially loving the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. I have also been a student of the Western Mysteries for 30 years. I have visited the inner circle at Stonehenge, climbed the brambled ruins of Aros Castle on the Isle of Mull and walked the desert sand of the Pyramids at Giza. My body has felt the hard seat of camel and horse, venturing far and wide to learn whatever I seek. 

My parents had an art gallery in downtown Daytona Beach, Florida when I was a baby. 1964, to be precise, during that Aquarian Age of intellectual and social reformation. My mother is a famous southern painter, Diana Barnes. My father is an infamous mathematician and story teller. So, I have certainly grown up in a world of ideas and art. We were a little bit of a gypsy family, touring with my mother on painting trips and for art show events. My parents bought some property in Cashiers North Carolina and my family built a house, living in tents and bathing in the Chattooga River for a summer. I have been going to this family cabin since 1972, enjoying the mountain air and deep spiritual comfort of the place. I spent a lot of my childhood in Ft. Walton Beach and Mary Esther; my mother’s family lived there. My brother and I enjoyed an idyllic childhood, searching for pirate treasure in Old Grayton Beach, roaming the Indian Mound in Ft. Walton or sailing our small catamaran on the inter-costal waterway In May of 1989, I had a crazy idea to paint a portrait of my mom riding a pig in her living room, for a Mother’s Day gift. I got some old plywood and primed it white. Then I began to design the portrait in the afternoon. I stayed up all night working and got up early the next day and began again. I loved painting so much that I continued to find boards, painting on them for the rest of the week. Still lifes, interior scenes of my own house and garden, landscapes from my historic neighborhood. I had finished about 20 paintings in a week. I stopped eating or sleeping; I painted everything I saw and began to use wild colors. I bought a set of good oil paints and borrowed some old brushes from my mom.

I had always been in love with the French painters, the Fauves. Henry Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck and Andre Derain were my new heroes. I checked out every library book on Impressionism and Expressionism. I covered my walls in posters of paintings by Van Gogh and Gauguin. I was hooked on oil painting like a monkey hooked on chocolate covered bananas. There was no turning back. Being an expert at moving furniture, I re-arranged my house, making the living room into a giant art studio. That was week two of my new found painting career. I vowed on the grave of Henri Matisse that I would paint forever! 

When I first started painting, the Outsider and Folk Art Movement was getting underway in the Southern states. Because I never studied art, I was lumped into this new and upcoming group. I was accepted to prestigious art shows like the Piedmont Art Festival in Atlanta and shows in Miami, Key West, Dallas, Houston and Washington DC. I loved talking to customers and learning about their homes and interests. I started painting special order work for private homes and corporate headquarters. I was able to place my work in wonderful galleries. I was so lucky to be able to sell paintings, enough to pay my bills. Wow, how time has flown. I can’t believe I have been painting for 23 years! It seems like yesterday when I first picked up the brush. I love oil paints the best; but I also use acrylics some of the time. I learned early on to use the best canvas and paints, which insures a high-quality painting that will last for hundreds of years. I have exhibited in lots of art shows, presented work in great art galleries in the US and Mexico and sold paintings to many wonderful people including Rod Stewart and Reggie Jackson. Thank you for buying my art! The creative spirit is the most important element in a person’s life. Your patronage keeps me doing what I love.

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