Charles Ringness - 2003

At Winchester Galleries on Broad Street

Opening Saturday, August 23, 2003 10:00 am - 5:30 pm.

Exhibition continues until September 17, 2003

Charles Ringness's imagery is realistic though often combined from different sources. His compositions, therefore, are usually at least partly invented. There is also a highly symbolic aspect to his artwork. His depiction of Victorian houses, for example, speaks readily of home, place, and history. Everyday objects such as chairs become metaphors for human presence, activity, and rest; ladders suggest movement, usually ascent or descent; upside-down umbrellas may evoke dysfunction but alternatively, perhaps, openness and receptivity. Script on a wall may have been inspired by a particular event in the artist's life. A car and its reflection evoke possibly the duality of experience - its positive/negative, action/inaction, cold/hot, etc. characteristics.

In some of his compositions there is reverse spelling. He has commented that by puzzling people, the device- and many other altered motifs, of course- can serve to engage, create interest, but that they can also have a structural, i.e. visual, function.

For a little over six years, Ringness managed a graphic print studio at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His clientele- with whom he worked and for whom he printed- included many major American artists, for instance Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Dine, Tapies, and Rusha. From Rauschenberg, Ringness learnt attitude and participation; from Rosenquist, repositioning of artwork, relooking, tuning up a piece; from Dine, 'integration' of the artist with the image; from Tapies, mark-making and mixed media; from Rusha, spontaneity and the quest for perfection and expression. In 1976 Ringness left his position in Florida to join the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He continues to teach at the university and also maintains a busy art practice.

His work is represented in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art; the Art Institute, Chicago; the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Art Gallery of Winnipeg.

Ringness's artwork is an intriguing, indeed unique, statement on human interaction, community, and the personal past. His work can also be instructive technically. He enjoys working with a diversity of materials and methods. In this exhibition at Winchester Galleries, a number of the works were done with encaustic - a medium which allows light to come from within the paint. There are, besides, very definite aesthetic properties to these works.