Art does not form in a vacuum. It is in and of the world, clanking around with everything it comes in contact with and reverberating through the artist, or from the artist to the artwork. The elements that interact with art can be miniscule and common—emotions of the artists, the temperature in the room, the time of day, the song playing on the radio—and also monumental and unforgiving—Covid, war, inflation, political turmoil and gun violence. Kris Lewis, Escape, oil on wood panel, 20 x 20"

How art interacts with the world is the subject of a new exhibition opening August 4 at RJD Gallery in Romeo, Michigan. Art and Life: Artists’ Reflections on the World Around Them will feature the work of four artists—Kris Lewis, Frank Oriti, Daniela Werneck and Kevin Muente—as they let their artwork soak in the world they live in. Daniela Werneck, Sweet Dreams, watercolor on panel, 8 x 8"

For Lewis, his work is an immediate response to the last two years. “Lately I’ve been reflecting upon the state of our world post-Covid. It’s hard not to think about all the changes that have happened over the past two years. It feels like the future has arrived a lot faster since the pandemic, and we as a society have been forced to adapt,” Lewis says. “Everything from how we work, how our children are learning in school, to things like telemedicine and having groceries and meals delivered via DoorDash. It’s weird. We are so much more isolated than we were before and have been relying on technology to keep us connected. We were hoping to come out of this better and stronger, but I think we as a planet have underestimated the lingering effects of the past two years. Inflation is here, soaring food and gas prices. This pandemic has really highlighted and increased global economic disparities worldwide. The decisions we make during times of crisis will frame our future world—I’m hoping for a better one.”

One of Lewis’ works in the show is called simply Escape, and it shows several animals fleeing a wildfire that is consuming the landscape. The work feels hopeful.Frank Oriti, The Last Shot, oil on canvas, 48 x 48"

“I hope that if my paintings can do anything, they can spark some introspection in the viewer and show how our actions as individuals reverberate throughout the world and have global effects,” he adds. “And at minimum, I hope to bring some beauty into the viewer’s world through art.”

For Oriti, his thoughts have turned to time itself. “One of the major themes I’ve been reflecting on in the last couple years has been involving the passing of time. Using personal memories from my childhood to invoke feelings of a sometimes-shared nostalgia is something I’ve been thinking a lot about,” he says. I’ve realized that to create images that allow us the ability to travel back in time is a very powerful thing.”Daniela Werneck, Bloom, watercolor on panel, 8 x 8"Oriti focuses on objects in his newest pieces, and within them time stands still, yet it also calls back to another time. When asked about where he draws a line between art and life, he says he proceeds with caution. “I think there’s a fine line to walk. I’m someone that has to pull from my own experiences and my own histories to make work,” he adds. “I think that’s where I feel the most comfortable, the most honest, and the most real. To create something that would come from an unknown place speaking on matters I don’t know enough about—I think that would create a whole other world of challenges that I don’t see myself engaging with. It would be too…disconnected.”Muente will be presenting his newest work, Potential of Loss, showing a male figure holding a dog as he lumbers through a wintry field. Squint but a little and these could be subjects from an Andrew Wyeth painting in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. But Muente paints them with an immediacy that makes the viewer engage with the setting, the intense eye contact and the subjects of the work. “The idea stemmed from when my dog Olivia hurt her back and that I was at some point going to have to come to grips with her eventual death. I think my work is at its strongest when the figures in my work are dealing with major conflict, and the paintings depict the pivotal moment when all might be won or lost and the stakes are high,” Muente says. “As of late I’ve been reflecting on how we as a human race are constantly dealing with pain and how to overcome it. Just yesterday, my cousin posted on social media that her beloved cat just passed away, and we all see these types of posts, and we all express our sympathies. As an artist I made this painting to help others empathize with deeper emotions such as doubt or loss. Art and life are two different things and even when art is at its best it only scratches the surface of reality. When dealing with sadness, the fact that art isn’t life is a good thing. We need to be reminded of it, contemplate it, but only get it in small doses, as it would otherwise be too overwhelming.”Kevin Muente, Potential of Loss, oil on canvas, 36 x 48"

Werneck will be showing several figurative works, including Bloom and Sweet Dreams, both showing women with their heads down and lost in a dream or deep thought. “Earlier this year, I brought my niece from Portugal to spend a few days with us here in Houston, Texas. Your adolescence, full of doubts, anxieties, expectations and dreams took me back to my past, when I was her age,” she says. “Bloom and Sweet Dreams represent memories of these dreams and fears of ours as young [people], this blossoming of our character into adulthood with what we carry within us from our innocent childhood and that we consciously or not take with us for the rest of our lives.”Frank Oriti, Off-White x Air Jordan 1 Chicago, oil on canvas, 16 x 20"

For gallery director Joi Jackson-Perle, these works will speak to some of these universal feelings that are happening in this time we’re all living through together. “Life’s journey is filled with highs and lows, the exceptional and the mundane, and the many spaces in between through which we observe, interact and go about our daily lives,” she says. “Artists, however, see life through a different lens; they process it in such a way that the mundane becomes exceptional and the in-between spaces are elevated to places of importance that may never have otherwise occurred to us. They make us think and feel deeply as we see what they see through their eyes and life experiences. Creators don’t wear their heart on their sleeve; they wear it on their canvas, and those of us who enter their world are the richer for it.” —

RJD Gallery
227 North Main Street • Romeo, MI 48065
(586) 281-3613 • www.rjdgallery.com

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