Bob is a 1976 Graduate of Kutztown University with a BFA in painting. Just out of college – he worked for a couple of decades in the toy industry, designing Halloween costumes and masks, and designing graphics for silk-screen printing. For the past 20 years he has worked in the printing industry as a computer prepress specialist and a digital graphic designer.
His means of artistic expression has ranged from photography, to oil and acrylic painting, to sculpture. Bob currently enjoys making assemblages out of old discarded items.
He enjoys being a member of the area art organizations and participating in the local shows. He is a past president of the Pottstown Area Artist Guild, and has enjoyed working on the Pottstown Carousel and Phoenixville Firebird. Bob is an honorary lifetime Beech St. Artist member.
A highlight was a trip to Eastern Slovakia to visit the Andy Warhol Museum and visit the village of Bob’s grandmother (Varhula), which was next to the village of Andy’s grandparents (Varhola). Being exposed to the art of Eastern Europe was very influential.
Bob also enjoys local history and has done several paintings of some of the area’s landmarks.
Artist Statement: “Industrial – Primitive” Assemblages
I collect old discarded common items: some natural, some man-made. I look for old pieces that show the graphic effects of aging: the beauty and harshness of the breaking-down over time of all things into what they came from. I look for pieces that are burnt, broken, rusty, crushed, bent, stained and cracked, (and sometimes smell bad). Sometime the final art piece will seem to tell a story or convey a message about something, but it will not clear as to what that message really is. It is open to interpretation by the viewer.
I create a forced juxtaposition of what are normally unassociated items. I try to allow the processes and methods of attachment to be exposed and obvious as I assemble the pieces.
My methods of assembly are simple and crude and often not appropriate for the items being assembled. I sometimes accent the assembly technique to a level of importance above that of the items being assembled.
The assembly process itself can sometime look brutally graphic. I try to avoid the look of craftsmanship or good design.
I want the making of the piece to look clumsy and unrefined. I want the art to have an emotional presence – but aesthetics is not an important consideration – as long as the piece looks “interesting”. The creation of something that will be called “art” is not a strong consideration: it is what it is.
