By Mike Cook
This is an art exhibition not to be missed.
The artist is Louis Ocepek (Ō suh pek). The work of art is “simply stunning,” to quote studio owner Catherine Brenner.
Ocepek is a Las Cruces graphic designer and visual artist who has brought printmaking, drawing, and computer design together to create unique and stunning encapsulated chromogenic prints.
After a health problem kept him from printmaking a few years ago, Ocepek began researching the chromogenic process (laser-exposed chromogenic prints).
He scans his pen and pencil drawings into his computer using Photoshop, Painter, InDesign, and Illustrator, adding shades, colors, and textures using digital brushes and pencils.
“The possibilities are endless because you can customize everything,” says Ocepek. “I love the look. It captures exactly the colors, shapes and focus that I was working with. “
He will upload the finished product to a company with a NASA-designed printer, Ocepek said. Color lasers expose multiple layers of color on high-resolution photo paper that is processed like a normal photo, he said.
An acrylic layer with a UV filter and a carrier plate with silicone adhesive are glued to the print. It is the connection that adds the word “encapsulation” to Ocepek’s work, he said. The colorful border of each piece looks like a mat, but is part of the artwork. Ocepek also makes its own frames.
The chromogenic printing process is “notable for its sharp details, accurate colors, wide range of sizes, and archival durability,” Ocepek said in his book “Nexus”. He is also the author of “Around the Block” and “Ink on Paper”.
“It’s overwhelming,” Brenner said of Ocepek’s work. “There are really no words to describe the feeling you get when you are here with the artwork.”
“I’m always looking for the source of what drives life. That’s what I’m trying to express, ”said Ocepek. “Every piece has a center, a core.”
Originally from Detroit, Ocepek received his first set of drawing tools from his father when he was 11 or 12 years old. He’s still using it. Ocepek moved to Las Cruces in 1985 to teach at New Mexico State University, where he began the graphic design program and was department head for six years before retiring in 2002.
His favorite artists are mostly European “superstars of early modernism,” said Ocepek, including the Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940) and the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). He also likes the work of the American artist Arthur Dove (1880-1946).
Ocepek has “a lifelong interest in music, mostly jazz, but all kinds of music,” he said. His father, Tony Ocepek, was a jazz musician in both big bands and small combos in Detroit and also played in the US Army Band during World War II. The Senior Ocepek was also a carpenter and joiner.
Louis Ocepek said the titles of many of his works of art refer to music, including “Homage to the Blues,” “Thriving on a Riff,” “Arabesque,” “Con Alma” and “Duet in Blue”.
Ocepek’s limited edition prints at the exhibition are for sale.
“Nexus” runs until Saturday, October 16. The Unsettled Gallery, 905 N. Mesquite St., is open Wednesdays 12 noon to 5 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 5 pm and Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm and by appointment. Call 575-635-2285 or drop by – owner Catherine Brenner can also be on site outside of the gallery’s opening hours.
The gallery has been open for more than 12 years.
Visit www.unsettledgallery.com.
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