A May 2020 piece by David Stratton, whose work will be featured in the Krempp Gallery in December.

By Herald Staff

JASPER — The Krempp Gallery at the Jasper Arts Center will present Owensboro, Kentucky, ink landscape artist, David Stratton, for the month of December.

Stratton is a professor of art and graphic design at Brescia University, an artist, freelance marketing consultant, graphic designer and aesthetics researcher, who has presented over 30 solo exhibitions of his artwork.

“My landscape imagery is based upon photos I take while hiking and bird watching that are not overly dramatic but more of a normal incidental 'view' of a puddle, clearing, or path intersection," Stratton said. "These quiet compositions are far more usual while hiking, than the dramatic vista or overlook. Yet, the usual doesn’t have to be overlooked, as I try to focus on that moment, and the textural beauty in both the image and moment."

He added: “This research series “elegy of Cy Twombly,” which began in 2011 — the year of his death, utilizes the technique of monochromatic/dichromatic ink on paper or canvas, conceptually emphasizing both the wonder of gesture with gestural line. This to create texture both by overlapping gestural lines as well as a texture of “unstable visual space.” I start drawing without a sketch or projection, and use an “overlapping textures-wandering line” to create a naturalistic yet ‘altered sense of space’ integrated image."

Each work of Stratton's is based on the between of one’s sense of place and the identity of place, which is the overlap of intuition and narration; using gestures, gestural lines, and moments considered complete but not finished are the moments he looks for.

“It is the balancing of issues, details, and motives which provides this possibility, viewing the nature in what normal is, without leaving out the mystery of what being is," Stratton said. "The viewer is to have the same joy as my own in looking at a landscape, looking again, and glancing back, every time seeing a different emphasis, space, or communication.”

Stratton holds a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Illinois State University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design/Illustration from the University of Tennessee.

The exhibit will be in the Krempp Gallery Dec. 2-30. Due to COVID-19, there will not be an opening reception.

The Krempp Gallery, located in the Jasper Arts Center adjacent to the Vincennes University Jasper campus, and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. School groups, clubs and students are welcome. Admission is free.

For more information, call the Arts Center at 812-482-3070. The Jasper Arts Center is managed by Jasper Community Arts, a department of the City of Jasper. JCA is supported by the Friends of the Arts, Inc., the Indiana Arts Commission, the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.