Painter Michael Sorgatz volunteered his creativity and his time to design the Brooklyn Blogfest poster. I am thrilled with it an especially pleased that he used his painting of the Brooklyn Bridge on the poster.

Sorgatz recently had a show at the Hudson Guild Gallery in Manhattan. The subjects of his paintings, he says, are the transient moments of life – the millions of ways we spend time each day.” He writes on his website:

I’m attracted to the dynamic quality of crowds and the interactions that take place in settings such as markets, parks, and streets. What I find compelling is the way that well-designed public spaces forge a sense of community and connection between individuals and groups. There’s a value in what are seemingly ordinary transactions: our interactions with the world define us and also shape the world around us

Sorgatz’s best paintings capture some of New York’s city’s most dynamic locations, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Prospect Park, the Greenmarket, and various street scenes around New York City. But most important is the way Michael uses buoyant paint colors and masterful brush strokes to create the blotches and shapes of his painterly world view.

As an artist and a viewer, I enjoy the handmade, non-mechanical nature of painting. The drag and swirl of paint on a canvas has a unique physical dimension that cannot be duplicated by film. I work spontaneously using swift brushstrokes to convey the sense of subjects in motion, constantly moving characters against shifting backgrounds. Colors and shapes are selected to evoke the scene’s essential characteristics and keep the eye moving across the canvas.