RSM Art Gallery: Touching the Pond, an installation by AJ Rombach, opens Sept. 15

Please join us in the RSM Art Gallery for the opening of Touching the Pond on September 15. The artist talk will start at 5:00 p.m., followed by a reception. AJ Rombach will discuss their work on exhibit - landscape paintings on canvas and on ceramic tile, ceramic relief symbol portraits, and wood bird sculptures.  

Touching the Pond 
AJ Rombach
September 15 - October 14, 2022

Artist Talk and Opening Reception: 
Thursday, September 15, 5:00 p.m. [add to calendar]

The Hermetic Phrase “As above, so below, and as below, so above.” with its reference to the connection between the physical and spiritual plane is a key inspiration for AJ Rombach’s recent artwork. The artist’s mixed media installation explores spirituality, magic, animism, and the nature of perception. At the RSM Gallery, Rombach will exhibit three interconnected bodies of work, landscape paintings on canvas and on ceramic tile, ceramic relief symbol portraits, and wood bird sculptures. Rombach’s landscape paintings are based off photos taken while walking in the woods of Eastern and Western Massachusetts. When elements in the natural landscape are aligned in a compelling way that appears surreal animated, they will take a picture with their phone. The resulting digital images are the basis for the oil paintings and correspondent ceramic tile paintings. The ceramic tile paintings are laid out horizontally to “reflect” the oil paintings; as above, so below. Each paired painting and tile piece comprise a single artwork that requires the viewer move around it to experience it fully. The artwork visually represents living things and environments, but AJ also offers up the potential for animism within each material part of the work, from a calligraphic brightly hued brushstroke to a bent piece of clay, down to the wood, pigments, and canvas.