Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Collecting Delaware Valley Art - Artist as Collector Series

Delaware based artist Wes Memeger is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector series.

Crab Apples, 2002
Encaustic on wood
16" x 24"
©2013Sallie Ketcham

I purchased this work from Sallie Ketcham the year it was made. It became a part of our collection made up mostly of works by Delaware Valley artists. 

In first viewing the work, I was quite impressed by the visually deep image Sallie was able
to create in the work forged by much modeling and tooling of the wax.  This was apparently accomplished both by working of the pigmented medium and sculpting of the tree images, heavily on the foreground and in a hyper-subtle fashion as one moves more deeply into the picture plane.


Crab Apples, (detail) 2002
Encaustic on wood
16" x 24"
©2013Sallie Ketcham
This is an especial accomplishment considering the work has a very minimal palette with an overall sense of somber grays, browns and almost flesh colored pinks. In addition to the fine
quality of the work itself, Sallie placed it into a floater frame with a perfectly matched painted wood matte. The latter is consistent with the care Sallie takes in presenting her work for public exhibition.

It holds the distinction of being the second of only two encaustic wax works in our collection, the first also by Sallie. 

Wes Memeger is a painter living and working in Delaware. His abstract geometric paintings investigate the square as a means for exploring the picture plane while uncovering dynamic possibilities along with innate tranquility. 

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