Jacksonville – MacMurray College associate professor of art Ray Yeager will be recognized in the current publication of New American Paintings. The critically acclaimed periodical features artists, both new and mid-career. Featuring all forms of artistic expression, the magazine has featured over 1800 artists to date. Professor Yeager will be featured in their 58th edition that is due out this month.

     “This is a publication I have wanted to be a part of for a long time,” said Prof. Yeager of the honor.

      His oil on canvas painting, titled “Give Me Shelter” (see attachment), will be featured along with 20+ other artists in print and on the publication’s website at www.newamericanpaintings.com.

     Mr. Yeager describes the piece as “an abstracted vision of the visual experiences that the passengers on the Underground Railroad experienced along their path to freedom…Give Me Shelter is an abstracted vision of a scene a passenger may have experienced traveling in the wooded areas at night.”

     Prof. Yeager is originally from Lee, Florida, and graduated from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1992. He received his MFA from the University of Florida in 1996.

     His mixed-media paintings and installations have been exhibited throughout the Southeast and Midwest. Prof. Yeager has taught at several institutions in the Southeast before coming to MacMurray.

     Artist Statement

     Much of my recent work has been concerned with disrupting realism by exposing the abstract qualities in the real. Through the dissolution of the referent into a system of structures, I am able to create an ambiguity that causes the paintings to vacillate between abstraction and naturalism.

     For this series, my aim was to paint the concept of a tree instead of the actual likeness of one. Through close cropping, dramatic perspectives and a harsh contrast between the figure and ground I was able to reveal the inherent abstraction in the image of a tree.

     The paintings begin from observation and photographs of the actual subject. I then manipulate the sketches and photographs in Photoshop to generate the images that are then converted into paintings. The overall effect of this process creates images that blur the line between abstraction and realism.

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     Located in Jacksonville, Ill., MacMurray College is a private, four-year, liberal arts, coeducational college, founded in 1846, and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Its friendly, informal environment stresses academic excellence, personal attention, career experience, and well-rounded development of each individual.