Current Exhibition

Our third Art competition “Texturres & Patterns” started in April 2022 and concluded on May 19, 2022. Art Room Gallery received entries from many countries around the world: USA, Canada, China, Russia, Germany, Philippines, Australia, Japan, Venezuela, Serbia, Greece, Mexico and Belgium. The Textures & Patterns theme in this competition included a diversity in types, styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, collage, graphite, charcoal, ink, photography, digital). The following evaluation criteria has been used for judging the artwork: creativity, interpretation of the theme, originality and quality of art, overall design, demonstration of artistic ability, and usage of medium. Jury decided to select 95 artworks for inclusion in the exhibition. Aside from First, Second, and Third place Jury also presented Merit awards and Honorable Mention awards.

Thank you, and enjoy the exhibition!

Statement:

Friedhard Kiekeben’s works take form as digital wall drawings, etched and printed metal friezes and sculptures, paintings, and sequences of prints and drawings. His projects often include tailor-made and site-specific installations - such as ‘Quantum Ice’. The work plays with conventions that art be static and confined rather than tumbling toward us. The predictable approach of geometric minimalism is often questioned and linearity is transformed into multi-facetted, or curvilinear hyberbolic views crossed with complex iterations of repeated forms. Throughout the artist’s career Friedhard Kiekeben frequently worked in black white, or grey, in appreciation of the heightened sense of reduction of monochromatic work. The new series of paintings ‘Black White and Grey’, and ‘Madison’ are an homage to Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and his pioneering work in minimal art. ‘After the metaphysics of being and appearance...comes that of indeterminacy and the code...Today, when the real and the imaginary are confused in the same operational totality, the aesthetic fascination is everywhere.’ (Jean Baudrillard, Simulations). German born, Kiekeben was one of the early artists in the UK to merge digital technologies, printing, painting, and installation-based printmaking, and he completed a research degree on this subject at the Royal College of Art in 1993. Today, he works as a Fine Art Professor at Columbia College Chicago, and shows his work internationally. The work is held in collections and museums in The UK, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and the US.

Statement:

Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, AWA.. "To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer .... That is the ultimate in self expression." Cher Pruys was born in Regina. Over the years she lived in many places including Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Fort Frances, settling into her present home in Devlin, on the banks of the Rainy River with her husband Mark, 4 dogs and 2 cats. By age three, Cher was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. She worked in pencil, charcoal and ink over the years, until, she picked up a paintbrush at the age of 35. Beginning with oil paints, she found her chosen mediums in acrylic, water color and gouache. Although self taught, her dedication and talent has seen her work juried into 185 International exhibits, as well as exhibits in numerous non juried shows. She has won 210 awards for her work in the International Juried Exhibits.

Statement:

Robert Obier’s work as an architect/designer/illustrator has been featured in numerous exhibitions, magazines and web articles. His work has appeared on television and was selected for a location shoot in a major motion picture. His range of eclectic influences include the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, the explorations of geometry in nature by Andy Goldsworthy and the theatrical creations of Industrial Light and Magic for a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away. His work explores the intersections and obscures the boundaries between architecture, industrial design and art. Each piece is as much a realization of an abstract design concept as it is a unique work of three-dimensional art. From creation through completion the dichotomy of ‘handmade’ and ‘computer generated’ informs the development and execution of the work. Robert Obier was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he now resides. He received a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from LSU in 1981 and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Design from Art Center College of Design in 2007. A strict and systematic organization of components define the work and reveal a discipline that is unmistakably architectural. At first glance, the geometric forms seem strangely familiar as if seen somewhere before - but where - when? Upon closer examination - perhaps the designs are remnants of some distant and secrete civilization or even an, as of yet, unknown and mysterious future. The forms are intentionally abstract giving shape to a brief moment of design inspiration. Schematic concepts emerge as built objects without the practical or functional restrictions that necessarily accompany the development of an architectural or industrial product.