Some artists are identified by the color palette they use, others by the brush strokes or how they make their mark, and even more by their choice of composition. For Scott Panuczak, his unique style involves all three. What makes the convergent identification even more remarkable is the short arc Panuczak’s career has traveled so far. The Orleans resident is in his early 30s and has been creating art most of his life. At Nauset High School in Eastham, his art studies were the classes which he most enjoyed and in which he excelled. Four years at New Hampshire Institute of Art (now the Institute of Art and Design at New England College) with painting as his major, Panuczak says he also delved into two of his other visual arts passions: photography and printmaking.

The universal connection for most printmakers is the concept of mark making, and this is no different for Panuczak. The deliberate strokes, indentations, building of layers, and general textural creation is at the center of his oil paintings, he says as he recognizes the influence of his life-long process of printmaking. There are so many characteristics that contribute to the arresting power of Panuczak’s paintings: his fearless use of color, his Van Gogh-like compositions, but his tactile, deliberate mark making is where the viewer takes pause, either consciously or subliminally, to consider the captivating dimension of the image that seems to reach out from the canvas. Panuczak says he doesn’t use any medium, just oil paint straight from the tube which allows him to achieve the three-dimensional effect as well as the ability to keep his colors true. When he finishes a painting he will photograph it and drop the color to make it black and white, “That way I can check to make sure my values are there,” he explains.

Panuczak’s intrepid nature naturally finds him mostly creating plein air, and maybe due to his youthful vigor, he is undeterred by environment or season. “The winter palettes maybe aren’t for everyone else, but for me, that’s one of my favorite times to paint,” he explains. “In the summer, I’m often out at dusk and the bugs come up, you know sometimes you get home and you find one in the paint, and you have to try to remove it, and truthfully sometimes you don’t. And of course with beach scenes, you’ll always find a bit of sand.” Panuczak also says he enjoys capturing night scenes, “It’s tough out there you know, you’re working with headlamps, but I’ve really enjoyed getting into nocturnal scenes. Twilight I’ve always been interested in; like the fading light, but now I’m going even darker into the night.” He says he usually tries to finish his paintings in one session as opposed to finishing them in his studio. “I strive to get them done, sort of taking after the Japanese mindset where you try to create in one quick fluid motion.”

He also is considerate of the history of painters who have come before and contemplates how their process influenced their work and tries to capture a bit of what it may have been like in a different era. “I have a method, I like to carry my work and all of my gear to a distance away from where I started, that’s sort of the process,” he reflects. “Monet probably had a team of helpers who trudged around with all of his stuff, but someone like Van Gogh was moving considerable distances, with a lot of weight as he carried his materials. Just in order to do that is a feat in itself, and when I do it, I feel a sort of solidarity. Not only to the tradition of art, but perhaps more importantly to the landscape itself and the nature found there within.” 

Scott Panuczak’s work can be found at ArtNova Gallery in Chatham, artnovagallery.com and at Adorn in East Orleans, adorncapecod.com.