In the Change of Strange series of paintings, Rob Reger, tips his hat to such influences as Escher's play with interlocking characters, Rube Goldberg's connections between items and the emerging story, Dali's surreal forms, and artwork of the psychedelic '60's. Reger paints with a touch of Maurice Sendak, creating new beasts and monsters with a whimsical tap on the shoulder of the frightening. "This show is very much about character development, formal design (playful elegance), creatures that hide and appear only after staring at it for hours, and suggesting just enough to have the viewer start to see connections and creatures I didn't literally see myself."-Rob Reger These emerging characters contained within the paintings overlap, share body parts, and suggest bigger and smaller characters. The artist plays with the use of space and the interplay of positive and negative, mathematics, and tricks to the eye, adding the element of viewer interaction. There is no such thing as upside-down in Change of Strange. Incorporating a patent-pending device designed for this show, the artwork is viewable 2-ways without removal from the wall, and new characters emerge, continuing the narrative and fantasy.
