Have art, will travel
Take a dive into the surreal with painter and anthropologist John Oberdorf, whose exhibit, “The Traveler,” will be on display at Lincoln City’s Chessman Gallery from Friday, Nov. 12 through Dec. 5.
Choose from the in-person opening reception at 5 pm this Friday, Nov. 12, or take the virtual gallery tour on the Lincoln City Cultural Center Facebook page on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Oberdorf has created a magnificent body of work that dabbles in the surreal while telling stories of days gone by; places that are being reclaimed by nature; and landscapes that are deeply rooted in memory.
The exhibition will present a survey of paintings exploring inner journeys and landscapes of the mind. Oberdorf, a surrealist at heart, approaches painting as a way to produce a visual response in the viewer.
Through his work, he asks questions and provides windows into other worlds, delving into more distorted dream imagery at times. He feels that the surreal experience can be closer to our day to day worlds, if we only allow ourselves to see.
Oberdorf’s work looks at what he calls “worlds of the possible” — elaborating on autonomous iconographies, exploring the ambiguity of natural shapes and the mystery of cultural traces in order to stimulate the viewer’s curiosity.
In these newly conceived images, elements such as rocks, vessels and pictographs symbolically evoke the ceaseless, unpredictable dialogue between nature and history, time, loss and memory.
Oberdorf is a graduate of OSU with degrees in art and anthropology. In addition to creating paintings and drawings throughout his prolific career, he has illustrated for various science fiction and youth publications. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Arizona, California and Oregon, is in collections across the country and has appeared in numerous publications including Art News.
The Chessman Gallery is located inside the Lincoln City Cultural Center at 540 NE Hwy. 101 and is open from 10 am to 4 pm, Thursday through Monday. For more information, go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org or call 541-994-9994.