statement

I am Baroque in my color sensibility and reference historical painting, but my aesthetic is contemporary as are the cultural references and the Magical Realism to which I adhere, along with a healthy dose of Victorian symbolism.  My paintings reflect the influence of the places I have seen, visited, or lived in.  All of these environments are referenced either directly or more subtly within my paintings.  I paint from a desire for beauty and otherness‚ of transcendent moments that still occur in dreams, memory and magic moments in nature.  I want to capture the sense of the routine and the ritual, the sublime with the mundane and how they can mix in equal parts.  

I work on many themes that recur throughout several disparate bodies of work.  Currently I am working on a series of portraits of children holding small Lego constructions.  Each portrait contains the seemingly playful image with the tension of impending adolescence and the exciting and frightening aspects of transition.  

bio

born: 1962, Stuttgart, Germany

education

University of New Mexico, MFA, 1993
University of New Mexico, MA, 1991
University of Arizona, 1984

selected awards/honors

Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship, Visual Arts Fellowship Award  2008-2009.
Baer Award in Painting, Wyoming Arts Council. Mark Masuoka, Director, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Denver, Juror. 2001.
Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship, Visual Arts Fellowship Award  1999 ˆ 2000

selected publications

"INPA International Painting Annual," International Exhibition in Print:  Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Publication for Spring 2011.
"New American Paintings," Western Edition No. 60, Juried Publication, Fereshteh Daftari, Juror, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, NYNY.
UWYO Magazine, Volume 9, Fall 2007, article: Balancing Act: The Life of Ricki Klages as Artist and Administrator. Paula Wilson-Cazier.

selected solo or two-person exhibits

"Way Stations," John Day Gallery, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, Jan. 2012.
"Weird Sisters," North Bank Artists Gallery, Vancouver, WA, Oct. 2nd ˆ Oct. 25th. 2011
"A Restless Traveler," Colorida Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 15th ˆ Oct. 12th. 2011
"Ricki Klages: Magical Realism," Epping Forest District Museum, Waltham Abbey, Essex, United Kingdom.  October 9th-November 30th. 2005

selected group shows

"Fantastiske Figurationer," Invitational exhibition, Galerie Knud Grothe, 2920 Charlottenlund, Copenhagen, Denmark, February 2nd-March 1st. 2012
"Persona Arts Festival, International Juried Exhibition, The Rag Factory, London, UK. May 2011.  Full color catalog.
"Wide Open II," Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY. March 4th- March 25th.  Juror: Nathan Trotman, Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 2011
"Figures," Invitational Exhibition, Lloyd Gill Gallery, Weston-Super-Mare, United Kingdom.  Nov. 7th. ˆ Dec. 4. 2009.