Artists

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Paul Roorda

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Paul is a Waterloo, ON, Canada artist who has exhibited extensively with solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Germany.  He has been awarded grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.  Paul was a finalist for the 2016 K.M. Hunter Artist Award in Ontario. 

Paul has also been the subject of an episode of “The Artist’s Life” which aired on Bravo TV in 2005.

Paul turned to art because of the multiplicity of meanings that can be embedded in single objects.  Art tackles truth, challenges belief.  Through questioning and experiencing, it allows us to let go.  Just like in poetry where a single page can embody several layers of meaning, art allows for several layers of meaning to exist, interact and build on each other.  Art does not need to reach definitive conclusions. It allows us to ask questions without having to arrive at any decisions.  Art can be contradictory.  It inspires thinking, moves away from logic and brings forth the primacy of human experience.  Art works with storytelling and emotions, it is open-ended and taps into the infinite realms of possibility in human experience.

Ritual is a central aspect of Paul’s creative act.  Ritualistic production of artworks allows him to address anxiety by establishing a rhythm that appeases the fear of the implications of questioning what is given as true.  In the process of the work's becoming, Paul achieves an established order that offers reassurance and comfort. The creative ritual seeks to heal with hope as he works with symbolic materials that carry active connotations of transformation and renewal.

RainerGeist

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RainerGeist's life emanates from his commitment to Self-surrender, spirituality and art.  The artist himself is the vehicle for the manifestation of the transcendent intelligence that stirs within.  In the act of surrender, the ego is dissolved in order to remove the interference - the appearance of limits and boundaries that may convincingly argue for separation from the whole.  Surrender allows for free co-operation in a state of flow that leads to the creation of a coherent order.  There is no conflict.  No doubt.  No planning or tortuous execution that requires re-thinking or correcting.  There is no endgame, just the knowledge of when the work is completed.  Art manifests what is to be shown.

This process of mystical revelation is central to RainerGeist, who does not want to focus on biographical or anecdotal details.  He does not accept  the idea of art as a luxury commodity that is traded as an investment based on historical achievements. The artwork must shine in its own right without subordination to past and personal data.

The name RainerGeist itself is an expression of this worldview.  It is a name that was conceived in the same way as the paintings.  It communicates what the artist is in the present moment, always.