This web site highlights Richard Rownak's contemporary digital art and film photography. Exploring the contemporary technology of the day gives today's artist the ability to build on their past works by expanding not only their knowledge but their boundaries.

“Life gives us only so much time, we should strive to make the most of it. Every ones enjoyment and interests are different, staying fresh and open to new knowledge and expression is how Richard Rownak wants to spend his time.”

Contemporary 2D digital art takes many forms but some things never change. The human eye scans an image and looks for boundaries and interest, a reason to stay or not. Drawing the voyeurs eye to the image and finding a path to pleasure the viewers brain is not an easy task and one image will not appeal to everyone equally, but if the image can spark a thought that has an effect on the viewers thought or attention, then it is effective. The more pleasurable the attraction and thought provoking the more effective the art.

 Richard Rownak started early in his life with an appreciation for visual design, composition and color that was used in a way that would grab his attention and force him to notice the impact of the color, design or texture of the art piece. This basic acknowledgement and enjoyment of the two dimensional image finally peaked his interest enough to get him start sketching and attempting some painting with oils on canvas as well as pen and ink. Photography was the art form that Richard decided to learn and use for a vocation and avocation. One-man art shows and shows with other artisans over the years have been a fun adventure. There is a lot of work involved in other aspects of the craft that make doing an art show a journey. Having the energy and making the time to follow your dreams is like a great journey toward fulfillment. Richard has written magazine articles about landscape photography for Petersen’s and won awards in the Sierra Club photo contest. He has created special effects advertising for a major motion picture, sold his photographic images to major corporations for their offices. He has worked with designers of all types to capture images of their designs of restaurants, buildings, homes and landscapes.

   Richard Rownak developed a unique contemporary technique he calls “Scantography”, as the result of his experimentation into the many aspects of the visual arts. To commercialize this idea he set up a web site at Scantography.com through which he sells his greeting cards and instructional PDF. “It’s great to see how many other ways people have used a flatbed scanner and computer to be creative.” Though much of Rownak’s work is in the surrealist genre he has also created many more realistic graphics by scanning live flowers. Currently his attention focuses on the techniques of 3D programs, whereby he mixes the resulting still images with other elements to create his intriguing and thought provoking work. “Life gives us only so much time, we should strive to make the most of it. Everyone’s enjoyment and interest are different, staying fresh and open to new knowledge and expression is how I want to spend my time. In 1973 Richard attended the University of Arkansas and starting a photography business, mostly doing portraits and working with a local advertising agency. Much of his time was spent in his darkroom learning about graphical techniques. After four years of freelancing in Northwest Arkansas decided to explore the western United States and ended up in Los Angeles where he continued to do freelance photography, mostly for foreign car companies shooting images for technical manuals.

At first, in Southern California, he did art shows and worked on several movies as a still photographer he did a variety of tasks for television commercials and other productions in the art department. In the early 1980’s he studied video production at UCLA. He shot several black and white 16mm films, with friends, and spent time creating special effect graphics for motion picture advertising and writing about instructional landscape photography. He developed a technique of multi-exposure special effect with 35mm and medium format film. Some of these images were published in magazines and newspapers. In the early 90’s, while still working as a freelance photographer, he started working with computer graphics. One great love was camping with his wife Pam and photographing the western United States. Richard continues freelance photography and computer graphics work as well as a full time profession as a Webmaster for a large auto group in Los Angeles. Richard has won several photography awards and continues learning new skills and contemporary digital art technology.
Richard has a deep appreciation for historical architecture and the preservation of beauty. Serving on the board of a historical preservation group, Hollywood Heritage has been rewarding for him.

Richard's art can be seen at the following internet art sites - http://www.thegalleryofthearts.com/RichardRownak.html
http://www.artlanow.com/RichardRownak/RRownak%20HTML/RRownak.html - http://www.zhibit.org/phototaker/contempory-modern-pop-art
http://www.drawingdreams.org/PicRichardRownakGeorgeArt.html  -  http://www.scannography.org/artists/Rownak-Richard.html  -  http://rownak.com/scantography/ - http://www.lacma.org/urbanlight/exh/Urban%20Light/13.html - http://www.myartspace.com/artistInfo.do?populatinglist=home&subscriberid=vrtpzczwva85jim1 -