ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Artist Ron Hess of Easton, Pennsylvania, never wants for a sketchpad. The store manager and father of three has been drawing for years, capturing the world about him in a prolific series of works that was on display at the weekend at the Riverside Festival of the Arts. The late-summertime event was held on the banks of the Delaware River, separating this old mill town from its riverside neighbor, Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
Mr. Hess’ work entails landscapes — both natural and manmade — as well multipanel series telling of his walk through modern daily life. His adopted hometown of Easton — Mr. Hess grew up outside Philadelphia — has provided him with a wealth of material, as the once-booming steel industries of the surrounding Lehigh Valley, though long since abandoned, have left behind their massive plants in the wake of the death of metallurgy, with many of the former foundries now repurposed. His renderings of the Lehigh Valley foundries and factories are at once beautiful and ethereal, almost like the lighter side of H.R. Giger’s fantasies.
Mr. Hess also commits to the canvas the great American urban scene-scapes, especially of New York and Washington. One of his recent master works entails a painting he made of a District office building located at 17th and H streets in Northwest.
“There was only one person visible,” Mr. Hess said of the structure that drew his inspiration. His rendering, which took him many days to complete, features the solitary office worker warehoused within the massively modern outpost of capitalism located in the nation’s capital — almost like the daymare version of the existential ennui of Edward Hopper.
“I’m always inspired by the architecture of D.C.,” Mr. Hess said.
Mr. Hess’ son attends George Washington University in the District. His daughter is a graduate of the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia.
On a recent trip to the District to visit his children, Mr. Hess showed me a sketchpad “story” telling of the day’s events. Panels near the top showed Mr. Hess and his wife driving down from Pennsylvania; others showed his daughter — all smiles — heading north on I-95 from the Virginia capital. There were panels still empty, to be filled with tales of our collective lunch at Founding Farmers.
“When working on my art, I find myself ’in the zone,’” his artist’s statement says, “a zen-like state that leaves me fully in the moment, breathing life into each piece.”
For more info and images, visit Facebook.com/Ron-Hess-Original-Art-666913276706050.
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