Photos: Check out Calverton artist’s work at Riverhead Free Library

Self-taught artist Dennis Link of Calverton had an opening reception in the Elizabeth Fox Overton Gallery at Riverhead Free Library Saturday afternoon.

Home inspection is how he makes his living, but creating art is his “passion,” he said.

He said he was raised in Brooklyn and started drawing with colored crayons at a very early age. His mother gave him and his sister “Paint by Number” sets for their birthdays, but very quickly he said he couldn’t follow the rules.

“Once I started, I couldn’t stop,” he said.

He was inspired by the movies “Lust for Life” and “Agony and Ecstasy” and so he started to paint with more detailed and energetic brush strokes.

In his 20s, Mr. Link focused on raising a family and building his real estate career and didn’t return to art until his 50s.

“Art makes me forget all my problems,” he said. “It lets me be in the moment, like meditation.”

His paintings, in pastels and oils, are taken from famous works of art he has studied. He said he doesn’t try to copy them, but be inspired by them, studying the brush strokes and the light. Paintings in the show, hosted by the Friends of the Library, are inspired by the works of DaVinci, Gauguin, Vermeer, Modigliani, VanGogh, Rouault, and Pollack.

The show will be on view through the month of January.

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