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JAY'S GALLERY
Jay Ressler
Picture
Artist's Statement

Jay Ressler fine art photographer, as well as an encaustic and oil painter who has shown his work at many venues in Berks County and across the state of Pennsylvania. 
He is an outstanding location photographer and developing plein air painter, with an eye that can capture the soul of a Havana backstreet as beautifully as the sip of a hungry hummingbird, often with compelling black and white images.
In his photographic practice Jay Ressler is best known for his surrealist artistic expression that lives in layers between opposites. “I like to explore boundaries,” he explains. “Boundaries between consciousness and the unconscious, between reality and imagination, between certainty and skepticism.” He does this by compositing his own photography in multiple layers to produce stunningly original, interleaved images and other photographic techniques including solarization. Using digital image manipulation software, he paints one photographic layer on top of another. He takes advantage of textures he's captured along with an array of processes for manipulating light, contrast, and color to tell the story. “Distorting and reinterpreting the literal 'machine moments' captured by the camera is as old as the art of photography,” he insists. 
Jay increasingly extends his multi-layered approach to loosely rendered oil paintings inspired by details of some of his layered images as well as new, original compositions. His occasional encaustic creations utilize ancient techniques beginning with cooking his own recipes of beeswax and damar resin and applying this medium between the layers of photographic images, along with various pigmented compounds and materials to add color, texture and expression. 
Any way you cut it the results are riveting. The viewer is drawn into an unfolding, dreamlike scene that might be heart-warming, haunting, gritty, poignant or magical. Sometimes, within the various layers, all of the above. 
The award-winning photographer/artist has many dimensions himself. He studied advanced digital photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and advanced encaustic techniques and oil painting with leading instructors in the field. He worked as an underground coal miner, steelworker, machinist, labor and civil rights activist, copywriter and commercial printer. He has a BS in Psychology from Albright 



       JayRessler.com/blog                                Facebook.com/ResslerJay                                            Twitter.com/ResslerJay

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ART PLUS GALLERY 610-375-9122
604 Penn Ave., W. Reading, PA 19611

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info@artplusgallerypa.com

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HOURS:
WED-SAT: 12-7
SUN 11-4
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  • Home
  • Artists At A Glance
  • Online Gallery
  • The Big Show
  • Events/Calendar
    • Current Events >
      • Featured Exhibits
    • Art Plus Calendar
    • PAWR23 >
      • PAWR 2023 Entry Form
      • PRIME SPONSORSHIPS
      • SPONSOR-THEMED AWARDS
      • ARTIST GUIDE TO BERKS
    • Nolde2023 Art Contest
  • Friends of Art Plus
  • ArtReach
    • Student Art Scholarship 2023 >
      • 2022 Art Scholarship
    • Nolde 2021-22
    • Intern at Art Plus
    • Easy ways to help >
      • Art Well Versed
  • About
    • How To Join
    • OUTREACH
    • Photo Stream
    • Contact us
    • Commissions
  • Outside Exhibits
  • Olivet: Creating Through COVID-19
  • 2023 Interns