Arie Galles | New Works Gallery

These oil pastel drawings and Reflected-Light Paintings were made since the move to California. As evidenced by the dates of completion, the creative juices flowed slowly at first, but gained speed as we settled into new surroundings. It took a while to for Sara and me to complete my new studio, even with the help of my assistant, David Laumann. Making a workable studio was just part of the process. Adjustments included a new environment, new friends, challenges of directorship and teaching at Soka, and a change from painting with an airbrush to working with sable brushes. Some of these images became Reflected-Light Paintings; others are possible precursors of new pieces. Summer 2008 was a prolific time. My mind was working on all cylinders while my hands tried to catch up. The summer of 2009 was even more productive, as seen in the continuation of this page.

Photograph: Arie Galles in his studio with a collection of New Works. For additional information on acquiring a new work ... please contact the artist.

Photograph: Arie Galles with his new reflected light painting "Outback" from the "Heartland II" Series

In 2002, I completed my “Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet” drawing suite. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. My first tentative steps in returning to color were a series of small drawings done in a synergic method with poet Jerome Rothenberg for a Dieu Donné fundraiser. Small works and commissions followed, but I couldn’t bring myself to return to the “Heartland” drawings in a serious way. In 2004, I accepted a position as Professor of Art and Director of Creative Arts at Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, Ca. Fairleigh Dickinson University, where I spent 32 years of my life, was good to me, and I, in turn, had been good for FDU. I left FDU for new challenges and possibilities out West. I was warmly welcomed by the Soka community.

The university provided me with a studio and as I got used to my surroundings, with Sara still in New Jersey, I began a new aerial “Heartland” landscape. Sara joined me in California in January 2005, and that summer we bought our house. We converted the garage into a studio, and, together again, we schlepped cabinets, spackled, painted, built shelving, etc. Between Soka and home I recreated my previous studio space. My mind cleared, and drawings continuing the “Heartland” series began flowing from my hand. New Reflected-Light Paintings have also been completed with more in process. After a decade of black and white, this outburst of color has been overwhelming. I now focus on serpentine ribbons of actual and imaginary rivers flowing through fields of iridescent colors. In my 2007-2008 works, I use formalist-fractal iconography masked as imaginary flood-inundated landscapes. Since coming to California I have abandoned the airbrush, and its inherent lung clogging overspray (despite air-pump and hooded respirator), for long bristled Sable brushes. With the air brush there was always a sensory gap between my hand and the extrusions. Now I am in direct contact with the surface that I paint, with all of its inherent limitations and new possibilities. I see no end to this exciting visual exploration of color and light.

Please scroll down and enjoy the gallery below of my newest works in the Heartland Series of Reflected-Light Paintings. Afterwards be sure to visit my gallery page of 1985-1995 Heartland Paintings and then visit my updated Process Page which provides a step-by-step tour of how both the original and new series of Reflected-Light Paintings were created. I am certain that you will find each of these web-page galleries quite illuminating. Enjoy.