NEW - "THE LETTER" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

Seems complete now - "The Letter," oil pastel painting on 11"x14" vellum Bristol paper, evocativist mood. (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW -- "DISPLACED CLOWN AND MIRROR" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New – “Displaced Clown and Mirror,” oil pastel painting on 11” x 14” mixed media paper, Evocativist style – Sennelier and Mungyo Artist Premium oil pastels with mineral spirits wash © 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "TWO CHATTANOOGA HOMELESS MEN (DECEASED)," OIL PASTEL PAINTING

"Two Chattanooga Homeless Men (Deceased)," oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" smooth Bristol paper, Evocativist style, evaluating (c) Wes, adapted from my video clips.

INVENTING "EVOCATIVISM" ...

Inventing "Evocativism " - a figurative and abstract esthetic category
Postmodern, spiritually intuitive, ethical, just and musically rhythmic way of seeing and creating. Visually artistic. Imperfect.
Working on this as an artistic category, style for me. Fleshing it out for and within painting and drawing and what I've worked on in the past. Philosophically, too.
Indicative. Evocative. Free to ramble and wander. Conscientious.

Wes Rehberg, Ph.D., Visual Artist

CREATING AS SACRAMENTAL? ... (plus work in progress)

Can creating art (or anything) be thought of as a sacramental task, sacrament through sacrament to sacrament? From the love actor through a work of loving to what appears to be an object that's really an incarnation of love, a subject. Holy, then. Mindful. Unafraid to address both the beauty and pain in life. Serving up a paschal meal, a passion play. Concrete. Embracing. Unitive despite difficulty. Into the mystic and material at the same moment. Michelangelo's "Pieta" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night." The mundane and transcendent joined. Inviting compassion. Present.

Including work in progress:
"Somali Refugees" - oil pastel painting on 12" x 19" vellum Bristol paper. (c)WR - continuing refugee and displacement theme

NEW - "MAYAN GRANDMOTHER, CHILDREN: SOUTHERN MEXICO" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New -- "Mayan Grandmother, Children: Southern Mexico" -- oil pastel painting on 11" x 14" vellum mixed media paper - adapted from my photo (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg, Evocativist style

NEW -- "MAYAN CHILD, SOUTHERN MEXICO" -- OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New - "Mayan Child, Southern Mexico" - oil pastel painting on 12"x18" smooth Bristol paper, Evocativist style - (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg - adapted from my photo 

NEW - "WAR ZONE CHILDREN" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New - "War Zone Children" - oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" smooth Bristol paper - (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg (leaving it crude and messy) Evocativist style.

DOING ART IN MY 80th TRIP AROUND THE SUN ...

Feeling like this about creative endeavors. I’m on a path this year to my 80th birthday and what I paint and draw this time around can take whatever direction the moment leads me to, abstract or figurative, ignoring contemporary tastes, with artworks merely scrawled, or done with some finesse. I don’t have to chase success or marketing gimmicks or approval. So, the ambition then is to be true to the sensibility, the skill, the imagination, the vision.. That seems sufficient.  Image is my acrylic painting "Self-Portrait at the Abstract Cafe," (c) 2014 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "RIVER BREEZE IN ROTTERDAM" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New - "River Breeze in Rotterdam" - oil pastel painting on 11" x 14" mixed media vellum paper (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg - post impressionist, Sennelier and Mungyo Gallery Artist Premium oil pastels.

NEW - "IGNITION" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING - ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST

New - "Ignition" - oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" smooth Bristol paper, abstract expressionist, (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg - Sennelier and Mungyo Gallery Artist Premium oil pastels.

NEW - "NEGOTIATING" - OIL PASTEL - ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST

New -- "Negotiating" -- oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" smooth mixed media paper - abstract expressionist style - (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "DISTANCE" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New -- "Distance" -- oil pastel painting on 12" x 19" velum Bristol paper - Sennelier oil pastels, Rembrandt Polycolor oil pencils, Turpenoid wash - expressionist style (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW -- "CARTOON ABSTRACT - THE HUG" - OIL PASTEL ARTWORK

New - "Cartoon Abstract: The Hug" - oil pastels and Stabilo on 9-1/2" x 12" vellum Bristol paper (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "ABSTRACT MISCHIEF 1" -- OIL PASTEL ARTWORK

New - "Abstract Mischief 1" -- oil pastel and Stabilo artwork on 9" x 12" mixed media paper -(c) 2015 Wes Rehberg 

NEW - "STAKEOUT" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New -- "Stakeout" -- oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" vellum Bristol paper, includes Turpenoid wash of oil pastels and oil pencil work - expressonist style - (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "MOBILE SLIPTSTREAM" -- OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New -- "Mobile Slipstream," oil pastel painting on 11" x 14" mixed media paper, expressionist style (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg ...

NEW - "WAITING" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING ON BRISTOL PAPER

New -- likely complete - "Waiting" - oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" smooth Bristol paper - experimented a little with mineral spirits and oil pencils - included as well a Turpenoid brush wash -- expressionist style? - I can't say -- (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

NEW - "APPARITIONS OF A CHURCH ORGANIST" - OIL PASTEL PAINTING

New - "Apparitions of a Rural Church Organist" -- oil pastel painting on 12" x 18" mixed media paper, expressionist style, completed - (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg 

NEW -- "THE PHONE CALL" -- OIL PASTEL PAINTING

Completed -- "The Phone Call" -- oil pastels on 11" x 14" mixed media paper - expressionist style (c) 2015 Wes Rehberg

I’m appreciating working in a rough expressionist way with painting and drawing. It’s not that I can’t do the manicured works that seem so prevalent as I pore through art magazines, it’s that they don’t hit and fit my sensibilities. I’ve got both city (NYC) and rural (upstate NY) in me now as well as Third World experiences that tumble around in me as I work, plus an education in culture and interpretation and the arts that make it difficult to avoid the raw side of things. So it comes out in what I make. For better or for worse.