Rick Shaefer: Rendering Nature
The Bellarmine Museum
September 18, 2014 - February 7, 2015
Rick Shaefer: Rendering Nature features the work of Connecticut-based artist Rick Shaefer, who is best known for his remarkable works in charcoal on vellum. Inspired directly by the textural richness of the natural world as well as the communicative power of "the line," Shaefer gravitates towards subjects that are as visually compelling as they are intellectually engaging.
Massive oak trees felled by the forces of nature and magisterial creatures, including the American Bison and the Indial Rhinoceros, reflect his profound interest in the capacity of bold mark-making to evoke the visual patterns of our lived environment. They equally speak to his stated interest in the powerful intersection of the human and the natural worlds and the resulting dialogues -- historical, mythological and anthropomorphic -- to which these collisions give rise. Shaefer's charcoal drawings will be complemented by more than a dozen of his cloud paintings, many of which have never been exhibited publicly before and several of which were painted specifically for the Bellarmine's main gallery.