Ian Factor was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and began traditional training in figure drawing, painting and sculpture at the age of eight. He studied at the DeCordova Museum School in Lincoln Massachusetts, the Museum of Fine Arts and Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Factor earned his BFA from the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in New York. After a residency at the Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Factor spent several years travelling and producing work throughout the United States. An instructor for 5 years at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, Factor has also worked heavily in the commercial field producing illustrations, murals and designs for corporate clients including Burton Snowboards, Timberland Outdoor Gear, Converse Footwear, Magic Hat Brewery, Vail Associates, Bank Boston(Fleet Bank) and IBM.

In February 2000 Factor returned from a year long painting trip to Italy and Spain where he had 2 solo shows and one group exhibition in Florence, and painted several commissioned portraits for collectors from Germany, Italy and the United States. During another extended trip to Italy that began in February 2001, Factor produced over 100 plein air paintings and drawings on paper and canvas in under 2 months that culminated in an exhibition at the Hay Gallery in Portland, Maine. He has also been continuing his commission portraits for such clients as Mr. Aldon James, Jr. the President of The National Arts Club in New York. In January, 2001, Factor produced a series of drawings and paintings from a collaboration with the "Lunch Hour Theatre" group in New York. This Theatre Group highlights such actors as Marlo Thomas, Rita Moreno, Cliff Robertson, Kate Burton, Keith Randall Smith, Jared Harris and Elaine Stritch.

More recently in August 2003 Factor completed 5 large canvases of the highly respected and revered Martial Arts and Qigong Master Yang, Jwing Ming of Taiwan, along with a Portrait completed on location at the Jamaica Plain Headquarters. All of the Works are now hanging in the permanent collection of YMAA. In September 2003 Factor spent a month in Paris gathering reference for a body of work that can be seen at the Karen Lynne Gallery in Los Angeles, the Caesarea Gallery in Boca Raton, and Du`e Gallery in Portland, Maine. In March 2003 he also spent 10 intensive days in London with the international dance and movement choreographer Philip Bottomley (Felipe) completing 2 portraits from life and dozens of studies of the London scene. Another 5 week trip to London, Italy, Amsterdam and France in June 2005 will add to the body of work for Factor's Solo Exhibition at Gallery 55 in Natick Ma, September 2005.

The newest canvases, single and multi-figure narratives, are Factor's main focus, and are his direct response and reaction to what he sees and feels in the people of the world at this time: Contemplative moments of solitude, uncertainty, separation, fear and longing, as well as serenity, peace, compassion and unity. With these works Factor continues his complex study of the psyche of all human beings, our relationships with ourselves and eachother, and the struggles and joys we all share. While his paintings become more and more technically refined, they always contain a deep, multi-layered allegorical feel, as evidenced in his July/August 2005 Solo Exhibition at the Copley Society in Boston.

Factor believes that his more than 20 years of dedication to the study and teaching of traditional martial arts directly influences every mark he puts down on canvas and paper. His work in one art constantly effects the other through the cycle of: awareness, learning, absorption, total comprehension, and ultimately letting go of technique, ego and self.Through the connection of mind, body, breath, spirit, and the relationship and harmony with the life rhythms of nature, the physical paintings that arrive are but a manifestation of these above principles.

The patterns of order and structure found in nature are the foundation to his pictorial design and composition (Sacred Geometry, Phi, Golden Proportions, etc). His process of working is the pursuit of a moment, a series of moments and ultimately a perpetual state of existence in perfect "nothingness"; the fine and delicate balance between complete control and simultaneous abandonment of everything conscious and unconscious, physical and mental, emotional and spiritual, knowledgeable and intuitive. This is his constant challenge. His images and marks are the records of his search for the attainment of this state of being as well as a documentation of his perceptions of the physical events around him.

Into a world that, at times, appears to be coming apart at the seams, over-inundated and saturated with turmoil, violence, intolerance and upheaval, Factors work weaves the threads of beauty, passion and the human spirit.

"I am not searching only to explain my own theories and opinions to others, alone. I am searching for the common ties and lines between all human beings that break down all barriers, walls and separations, and am searching for the means and techniques to bring these commonalities to the minds, hearts and emotions of every person who makes contact with these works. The supreme ultimate is to transcend all cultural and personal relativity, to link all human beings together."

My meditation is without hesitation, and the marks left behind are indications of a state of oneness with my environment, my people and the universe. Any break from the intense focus needed to attain such a state is immediate departure from truth; failure. Yet failure is growth...but then growth only leads to eventual decay; the fall of a tree leads to the growth of a new generation of life. So isn't this truth as well? What is the difference between the idea of truth and actual truth? Wouldn't actual truth be larger than our own pre-conceived notions? Does it originate in a place beyond our own concept of right and wrong, good and bad? And so I search for truth through my art, which is to say,
my art is only a vehicle for my freedom.

There are moments that make us free, instances in which there exist no doubt, no question,
and all the universe flows through us.
We float effortlessly in the ethereal tide of the movement of the rhythms of nature and the vibrations of the pulse of life.
And then we bring these moments to a physical plane.
May this plane be the surface of a canvas?

To some, art is a trite and trivial activity in these times of war and intolerance, yet if all human beings
functioned on the level of self awareness and ego-less meditation that brings about great works of art and self discovery,
there would be no space for violence and hate...
all things in life would be seen as they truly are; beautiful.

The exhibition (art made public) is a strange thing indeed;
Through our search for the highest, purest state of being we must go through a process of
attaining a heightened state of self awareness,
confidence, concentration, total commandment of all facilities and a deep connection and commitment
to the world around us,
while at the same time completely letting go of ego, self and all external attachments,
wide open to whatever direction nature decides to take us.
A most deeply personal experience...
...and now with no ego, utterly open and naked, we are judged.

Remember, with every doubt comes a hitch in the natural flow of being (awareness).

We may judge the artist, their work, but are we not really only judging ourselves?
Which do we decide to see, beauty or its opposite?
How do we decide to live our lives?

When the wind blows and the warm sun strikes our cold bodies, do we actually feel it,
or do we reason it into being?
How many of us are actually alive? Actually living?
Look around.

How then can I describe in words (limiting symbols to describe the limitless) something that is so pure and so beautiful
that it takes me to a place in which all is effortless, ego-less and infinite?

I am closer now than I ever have been, but shouldn't this be the way?

What does it take to let go of our egos, to float comfortably in the nothingness? Would this not be the only way to understand and attain clarity of our guiding spirit? And then what is spirit?
What is this mysterious thing we all talk of so freely, and yet about which have such little,
if any comprehension?
What is it that guides us and directs us outside and beyond our frail, fragile, confused egos?
Where do we go when we dream? Meditate? Die? Where do we go when we create?
What is the essence of the wind?

I recently witnessed two doves, one black and one white, building a nest in my window sill.
The next day two eggs were laid, and on the 1st day of June, the new babies were hatched;
tiny, little, wet, long-necked creatures feeding, shaking and trying to stay warm under mother's cover.
And this morning, the little newborns stretched and flapped their wings for the first time...
preparation for flight.