Realism in a Contemporary World:
An Interview with Margaret Raab
Margaret Raab has just retired after teaching art for 27 years; her goal now is to focus on her
paintings, which range from still life (her first love) to portrait and landscape. Her most recent project
has been to depict the details of local architecture and industrial machinery in the classical Realist style.
After that, she says, "different places across the country embrace different styles, so I want to find a
venue to exhibit where realism is embraced."
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Tell us about your path to Buffalo Arts Studio.
I've been here for four, five years now. I was a teacher for 27 years, and I just retired. Before
that, I studied Renaissance art in Parma, Italy - I have a great love of the late Renaissance and Mannerist
art, because of the use of light and drama. So I studied in Italy, then I went back to school in Fine Arts. I
stayed home and had my kids, and then I got my degree in Art Education. After that, I was lucky enough
to fall into a nice job. I started out in watercolors and quickly moved into oils, neither of which I studied
in school - it was all at artists' workshops. Once the kids were grown and out of the house, I sold my
house and I wanted move into a studio outside of the house. And that's what brought me here.

What is your preferred medium and why?
I enjoy working with charcoal and oil. I prefer oil, because I enjoy the high level detail I can
render with it.

Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone and discovered a whole new genre of art?
How did it turn out?
I did, recently I did a painting with detailed elements, but with a fluid, abstract composition. I
used a lot of layering - translucent and transparent layers - and I really enjoyed it. I was very happy with
it - I'll probably do more like it.

How has your practice changed over time?
My work has become more refined. I want to do more work on composition - to find something
and continue to work on it. The melding of contemporary and classical styles is challenging, and I think
I'm headed toward that - to take the rich, intense, detailed realism of the classical and move it into
contemporary subjects and composition. I've done a lot of playing around with different things,
especially trompe l'oeil. It's still not where I want it to be: I want to add the richness and the depth, as
opposed to just the detail and realism of trompe l'oeil.

Name three artists you’d like to be compared to.
I can't be compared to the three I'd like to be compared to - they're the masters of the Masters.
I love Correggio and the Dutch Masters. It's always about the drama of the depth and the light.

How do you deal with frustrations when creating or navigating the art world?
When I get stuck, I talk to people. I also go back and look at other artworks as references, to see
how they solved certain problems. The only time it ever gets really frustrating is when I am working with
a deadline...otherwise, you can take as much time as you need to do what you need to do, and with oils,
you can always change and fix it.

How do you view Buffalo as an artist and resident?
Realism in a Contemporary World:
An Interview with Margaret Raab
Buffalo has an exciting arts community. I've lived here my whole life...it's got such history and
culture. It offers so much, culturally, to everyone. Love the architecture...love the history...hate the
weather.