This coming Friday is my gallery opening at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center. My gallery will be on display in the downstairs exhibition hall. If because of work or you are out of town feel free and stop in anytime. It runs now through August 19, 2017. More information can be found on my artist facebook page as well as pertinent information for the gallery (https://www.facebook.com/BrianKrecikVisualArtist/)
While working for an insurance company in a career as a web application engineer I had the fortune to visit Zurich, Switzerland. While this was a business trip we were allowed a week of travel allowing us to see the countryside, meet the people, enjoy the food, and to take in the scenery. While I no longer code for a living professionally, this was an interesting part of my life as I came to appreciate time and how, while working 60 – 80 hour weeks, one can quickly find time passing them by ever so quickly. It was at this time that I decided all those years ago back in 2000 to go back to school. While I made a few attempts both at my MBA in business and my Masters in Computer Science none of them really felt like they were for me. I have always found myself attracted to art, nature, and have strong beliefs in doing something that makes both a difference and that can help others.
Six years ago I decided to leave the world of web application development. It was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions that I have ever had to make. Over the more than thirteen years that I worked for some fantastic companies providing solutions to clients and business units and offering e-commerce solutions. While the passion was there to solve complex concepts and offer solutions, I found myself riding the desk chugging code out and not being part of the world around me. It is people, culture, art, and science that inspires me and a disconnect was forming from my world as a programmer and the world around me. To get that back I knew I needed to make some changes by doing something for myself and for my family.
Back in 2015, I was approached by Danielle McClelland from the Buskirk-Chumley theater for an advertising and promotional piece that would help showcase the signature drinks during the contest. I met Danielle at a local art council meeting held hosted by our local city government. She pitched to me the idea real quickly and I was promised more details. Over the next couple weeks I contacted the three bars and the bartenders – Emmie O’Connor from the Malibu Grill, Andrew Wind from the Uptown Cafe and Nick Matio from C3 Bloomington.
In today’s world of always connected, always on of the digitized world it is no surprise that digital imagery at the consumer level has once more bled into the realm normally reserved for the “professional”. In a field where it was normally prohibitively expensive and only available to those willing to invest a lot of time and money into their craft, people’s access to digital cameras has helped to open the world of photography to a whole new demographic that wouldn’t normally have access to or use of the medium. This coupled with the integration of camera phones and social networking websites, the openness and availability of images has made it accessible to virtually anyone able to afford a cell phone.
From time to time I like to share artists whose work in various genres I find visually stunning and inspirational. Rather than share their work on my website that I personally consider appropriation of their work and in turn less about the artists and more about me, I instead will provide for you, the reader, links to their website and gallery where their work is on display.
Inshallah, by Dima Gavrysh is a mesmerizing series of images, not purely for the content and what they depict, rather it is how they are visually unified as a series throughout that makes them unique. Visually one can see the hand of the artist as they compose images that create a series of textures and light that visually hold the viewers senses long after being viewed. To see the series be sure to head over to Pictura Gallery or the artists website for a visual treat.
Inshallah (“God willing” in Arabic) is a project that explores the Soviet and American occupations of Afghanistan. It draws upon my childhood fantasies that romanticize the military and intertwines with my past and present personal conflicts. I create a dark fairytale filled with my fears and dreams, based on my fascination with the army’s strength and order, set on the front lines of what has become America’s longest-running war in history. Mesmerized by the complexity of the Afghan chaos, I strive to better comprehend my personal relationship to these wars: two empires, two mentalities, same battlefield, twelve years apart.
Enjoy!
Brian Krecik
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