Yale Factor
Yale Factor is one artist who tests our perceptions of reality and illusion. His most recent work, the narrative still-life paintings, synthesize his earlier work and progress to a new level. These paintings are autobiographical; they utilize objects with personal meaning to the artist. A sense of “place” seems to infiltrate each canvas and sets the stage for a highly subjective drama. Maps and charts of places where the artist had lived or visited emerge as personal landscapes to provide a backdrop. The quest for illusion, however, adopts a slightly new twist in these paintings. Before us are collections of objects rendered in trompe l’oeil, representations creating a three-dimensional illusion. At second glance, perhaps from a corner of our eye, these objects suggest activity. They hover, pierce, assemble, hide, and explode. What begins as a re-creation of reality transforms into surrealism.
In landscape paintings, Factor brings natural detail into a clear focus, which is all too often only vaguely sensed. Each universe created on canvas or paper juxtaposes traditional Renaissance coloring against modern, almost scientific rendering. Working together, they establish a distinctly personal view. The chiaroscuro technique was borrowed from the old masters, while the colored shadows evoke a general impression of softness and warmth, underscoring the essential drama.
Born and raised in Chicago, Yale Factor infuses his paintings with a Midwestern sensibility. His work has been shown nationwide in regional, national, and international juried exhibitions and one-person museum exhibitions. Factor is a Professor Emeritus of Art at Northern Illinois University. Before taking the teaching position at NIU, Yale Factor was a scientific illustrator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
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