On Display: July 2nd through July 31st
Rich Ankeney is an artist and photographer from Galesburg, Illinois. Influenced by music, he has sought out a way to incorporate his impressions of it into abstract visuals with strong color combinations that create rhythmic and harmonic energies. He indicates that his work is not developed using a single technology, method, process or subject, but rather is, ”a sustained engagement with the fundamental elements of art and the mechanics of viewing.”
Ankeney tries to “capture the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic energy of music, especially Jazz.” He uses strong combinations of color to imply a pulsating rhythm, as well as complex harmonies and subtle discord. Melody as a subject matter is downplayed or absent. He creates “a dynamic reorganization of the artist elements… abstracting creates variations by manipulating line, form, and color in a kind of pictorial counterpoint.” Human figures are in no way a representation, instead where they appear they function more as a symbol of elemental and artistic forces and energy.
Ankeney is heavily influenced by movements of the early to mid 20th century, such as the Fauves, early Abstract Expressionism, as well as the artist Wassily Kandinsky. This was a period of intense and rapid change for many things across the globe and so artistic techniques developed to match those changes.
Rich Ankeney has over 50 years of experience in photography. He holds degrees in painting and photography, art education, and instructional technology. He has taught art and photography at Carl Sandburg College for over 25 years and received an Outstanding Alumni Award from the Art Department of Quincy University in 2002. His work spans various technologies, methods, and subjects, focusing on the fundamental elements of art and the mechanics of viewing.
Lunch ala Art, a lunch and gallery talk, begins at noon on Friday, July 31. Ankeney will be present to discuss his artwork and artistic process. Lunch is $12 per person. Reservations are recommended if you intend to eat lunch; otherwise, feel free to come for the gallery talk which begins at approximately 12:40 p.m. Make your reservations online via the Calendar tab on fortmadisonart.com or by calling 319-372-3996. All reservations are due prior to noon on the Wednesday before the lunchtime artist talk.