Description
Lanesboro Arts presents “Renewable Energy,” an oil painting exhibition of trees and nature scenes by artist Ken Reif. The exhibit opens with an artist reception on Saturday, October 20, 2018, from 6-8 p.m., and runs through December 16, 2018. The reception will include wine and hors d’oeuvres, as well as live music by Nathan Davidson & Kerry Klungtvedt. Always free and open to the public, Lanesboro Arts Gallery is open seven days a week in October. The gallery is closed on Mondays in November and December.
Ken Reif is a visual artist and musician based in Berwyn, Illinois that believes viewers should feel renewed by the energy a painting conveys, “much the same as music,” he adds. To achieve that vision, and also provide continuity, all of Reif’s oil paintings start with a black primed surface upon which he then builds his compositions using an impressionistic palette. Inspired by a deep respect for nature developed at an early age, Reif creates his paintings using reference photos taken during his many journeys into the wilderness. The resulting fragmented images of natural settings are a stunning balance of realism and abstraction. Reif’s use of color and light gives you the feeling that you’re sitting under a very tall tree and listening to the leaves blow in the wind.
Creating art since the age of 10, Reif attended Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Columbia College. As a full-time artist, Reif shows his work in approximately 20 art fairs across the U.S. each year and his pieces are featured at the Leigh Gallery in Chicago, as well as various business in Oak Park and Berwyn, IL.
Reif shares, “For me that truth is in my artwork. Turning two dimensional surfaces into compositions that renew the spirit is incredibly rewarding. Painting and the instruction I have received changed the way I view the world. I am set free every time I stand at the easel.”
This exhibit is sponsored by KTTC Television and made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. For more information visit www.lanesboroarts.org, call 507-467-2446 or email gallery@lanesboroarts.org. Handicapped accessible and free to the public, the exhibition gallery is located at 103 Parkway Avenue North in Lanesboro.