Introspection drives my need to create. Processing thoughts, ideas and observations is the nature of my studio activity. Each mark metaphorically documents an experience, comments on a situation, or reveals a process of thinking. My artworks reflect the outcome of what I regard to be serious play. I’m inquisitive about things I don’t understand and create picture narratives to explore possibilities. This activity seems to be both therapy and entertainment.

Mencher’s works are like the film Being There with Peter Sellers. Citing literature, television, film, and stage drama, as major influences on his work, Mencher’s objective is to present a figurative composition divorced from its context, forcing viewers to create their own interpretation of the narrative. By combining calligraphic gestural brushstrokes with passages of tight traditional glazing techniques, his art explores the thread of human connection that is woven into our experiences. Collaged from posed photographs and pop culture, his paintings are frozen moments in a play. Sometimes these moments are outrageous or surreal, and the figures are character actors caught in the action.

Lynn Rubenzer paints dense, fantastical cities populated by shy giants, scarlet monkeys, and flying pterodactyls. Using the stretched canvas as a stage for deeper exploration into the human condition, strange and inquisitive characters emerge like images reflected in a bar mirror during a night of transient delight. Rubenzer’s work invites the viewer to ponder the current state of our society, from the fragility of community to the emotional threads that universally unite.