Jerry Ingeman: Surreal Deal

Start: Sept. 3, 2016, 5 p.m.

End: Sept. 17, 2016, 5 p.m.

Exhibit on display September 3rd-September 30th

Hours: 12:00-8:00PM, Tuesday through Saturday

Artist Reception September 9th 6-8pm

Artist Statement:

I create narrative Surrealist artworks, telling visual stories. The stories are ambiguous and can be interpreted in countless directions, thus engaging the viewers as part of the process. Still life, often set in landscapes, are the vehicle for telling the tales. The alphabet I use for my visual stories consists of old children’s toys, skulls, old kitchen utensils, bits of wood, dried weeds and seed heads, moss, feathers, old broken dolls, gears, clock parts, etc. Occasionally alternating from one medium to another (oil paint on canvas, graphite and/or charcoal on paper, woodblock prints, collage, wood carving, etc.) I will stick with one medium for some time, often years, then switch to another medium to explore what new dimensions that medium brings to the work.

I have various questions I ask when creating new pieces. I deal with questions of life and death, innocence and the loss of innocence, the environment, politics, philosophy, love/hate/abuse, etc. Such questions have continued in my work for many years. There are no black and white answers in my works. There are questions, observations, ruminations. Sometimes it may just be humor and silliness, but there could also be very dark, serious issues just below the surface. Each piece requires lengthy thought to work out the implications, if there are any.

Earlier this year I glanced into my compost bucket and found the compost to be quite beautiful. I grabbed my iPhone and took a photo. Soon I was posting a daily “Compost of the Day” on Facebook and Twitter. I cook a great deal so have had a steady supply of compost ingredients. My thought from the start was that these daily pictures would make good paintings. They look like expressionist paintings as they are. I will be working on those paintings soon. Meanwhile, I worked with art printers to make a series of 15 x 20” prints and framed them for display.

Surrealism and Dadaism have influenced me from an early age, continuing through college and on to today. I graduated from St Cloud State University. I had majored in art, anthropology, and East Asian Studies, which expanded my perspectives nicely. My studio is way out in the country in a deeply wooded area full of lakes and ponds. I look out my studio windows at a mixed hardwood forest where I can think and create in peace.

www.jerryingeman.com
contact: Jerry@jerryingeman.com

Oil paintings, drawings, Compost of the Day photographs, perhaps a wood carving