Arie Galles: Reflections of Aluminum

Wearing a cowboy hat, jeans and denim shirt, Professor Arie Galles could fit in as a native Californian. But once he speaks, his accent—a mix of several languages— gives away his multicultural experience.

Galles was born in Uzbek SSR (now Uzbekistan) in 1944. His parents ran from the Nazis from Poland to Russia in 1939. Galles was raised in Poland after the war.

Since then, Galles has lived in Israel, Italy and many other Europe cities. He settled in the United States in the late 1960s.

His passion for art sparked when he was a boy.

"I've been an artist since I was three," Galles said. "In Poland, my father was a tailor. Everyone in my family was a craftsman. Nobody had money but we'd all exchange the things we made."

His talent was first discovered when he took some of his father's white chalk and began to draw trains on his maroon colored wooden floor.

"I always hear from my artist friends that their parents always told them 'why don't you make a living become a CPA, a doctor or a lawyer instead of an artist?' But my parents encouraged me and were very proud of my talent," he said. "I always say it's better than being a doctor because no one ever died of a bad painting."

With his parents encouragement, Galles took carefully tended to his creativity. Eventually, he created his own, unique form of art. His inspiration? A reflection of light from his watch.

"If you look at the side, there is paint on the side. It’s painted on a jig and I invented this in 1972," Galles said. "I went to an art show in New York City and the paintings were lousy, but they all had aluminum frames and I thought, 'Oh my god. These polished frames are creating mirrors that reflect colors.'"

His current show, Arie A. Galles: Heartland II Reflected-Light Paintings, is on display in the Founders Hall Art Gallery at .

Each painting is situated on a white canvas with triangular jigs that are painted with neon colors. According to Galles, he uses theses colors because the human eye is sensitive to them. Light reflects off the aluminum jigs to create an image.

Most of Galles paintings are inspired by aerial landscapes. Many of his paintings feature winding rivers and landscapes found in the Midwest.

When a viewer looks at them straight on the paintings glow faintly with color. As the viewer moves to the left or right of the painting, the colors increase in intensity and reaching full vibrancy when viewed from the extreme left or right.

Galles gave a word of advice to budding artists.

"Look, artists have to make a living, people have a mistaken identity of concept," he said. "The best way to flatter an artist is to buy their work."

For information on Galles and his work visit his website at ariegalles.com.

For information on gallery hours and Soka University visit their website at soka.edu.