Norman Foster was born in Texas and received his BA from New York University and Mexico City College, where he focused on the relationship between pre-Columbian and contemporary Mexican art. Foster received his MA from the University of Missouri in 1950, where he was granted a teaching fellowship. His extensive professional affiliations include membership in the American Society of Interior Designers; the Society of Practicing Designers, London, England; "Who's Who In the Southwest"; "Who's Who in Interior Design"; and "Who's Who in the Asian-Pacific Rim".

Foster's painting and sculpture has been exhibited nationally, including at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri; the Nelson-Rockhill Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri; Acquisitions Show, Fresno Art Museum, 1989; Director's Exhibition Show, Fresno Art Museum, 1990; Invitational Group Show at Patricia Correia Gallery in 1994 and 1995; a group exhibition at Knoll, Pacific Design Center; First National Bank of South Texas, San Antonio, Texas, 1995; Patricia Correia Gallery, Venice, California 1994; 871 Fine Art, San Francisco, California; Stuart Denenberg Fine Arts, San Francisco; and Karin Rymer Gallery, San Antonio. His work is represented in numerous corporate and private collections, including: Permanent Collection, Fresno Art Museum; Sasha Stallone, Los Angeles; Joseph Goldeen, San Francisco; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Latham, St. Cyr, Switzerland; Baron Claude Simon, Brussels, Belgium; Fredrick Erck, San Antonio; and Patricia Correia, Los Angeles.

Foster's studies in design and the American vernacular led to a long and successful career combining practice as an interior designer with his unique artistic background and perspective. Foster's work from this period is renowned for its eclectic elegance, uncompromising craftsmanship and uniquely American flavor.

Foster continued to sculpt and paint throughout his life, and in 1975 closed his design office to pursue exclusively his career as a fine artist. He brings to his sculpture and painting the same elegance and wit which characterized his stellar career in design. The artist's finely executed sculptures are assemblages of steel, stone, wood and found objects. The works are composed of decontextualized elements from the common to the very rare, resurrected to express his uncommon vision. Masterfully finished, Foster's sculptures often reflect the tones of the original objects, occasionally accented by a single instance of strong color. The artist uses patinas and multiple layers of paint and enamel to create richly polished surfaces, which exist in harmonious contrast to the more organic components. Foster also incorporates trompe l'oeil technique in the hand-carved pieces of the sculptures, creating illusions of fragility, density, age or organic history.

The exquisite finish and mature style of Foster's sculpture characterizes his painting as well, echoing the objects in imagery and color. The painting takes a more abstract stance, eschewing surrealist figurative imagery for a more painterly, gestural approach. Foster speaks of his own work from a psychological perspective as well, constantly scrutinizing the creative process in search of the perfect fusion of imagination and reason, thought and action, beauty and strength. The importance, which he places on the discipline of academic training and art history is squarely responsible for his unique stylistic mixture of reverent tradition and ironic, witty surrealism.

"When the activity of the artist is based in a too conscious approach to a subject, the fine line between inspiration (subconscious) and the execution of a work (conscious) is broken, creative power is thwarted, and the magic is lost. I believe that inspiration is born in the subconscious, and can die at the hands of a too intellectual contemplation. Even critics, whose basic 1001 is contemplated knowledge, must also be capable of inspired response in order to successfully judge a work. The (art work] must, however, be based in the confidence of training and experience - those vital necessities lost to many schools where "Free Expression" is placed before the skill of draftsmanship. Nevertheless, the serious individual will transcend, but not lose, the value of that training The magic of a successful [art piece] must carry into the finished work the inspiration of the subconscious through a conscious interpretation in the form of painting, sculpture, music, or writing. The artist's work is then capable of originality.'

NORMAN FOSTER, "Notes on Art Making"

Norman Foster is distributed exclusively by Christopher Hill Fine Arts at St. Helena, CA (707) 963 0272