Rafal Olbinski

Tonight, Eli and I met after work for a cheap date at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. We always pass by the gorgeous building on our way in and out of Auburn, but have never been there. They have a Third Thursday Late Night which is free to the public. Tonight, one of their artists, who has an exhibit running through the end of February, was speaking about his work. I had never heard of him before, but I saw some of his paintings in the newspaper (with an accompanying article, which is how I found out about the event) and decided I wanted to know/see more.

Rafal Olbinski is Polish, but has lived in the United States for the last 27 years, since he was about 40. His style of art is mainly surrealist, reminiscent of Rene' Magritte, whose work I love to ponder.

Wow! I don't think I could be an artist because of the need for sheer patience and precision. How do they get such detail with a brush?? Perhaps some day I will take a painting class and get a glimpse into the world of the artist, but for now I will remain ignorant and in awe.

What I love about surrealist artwork is that it is so bizarre that you can't even imagine where the artist got his/her ideas and vision. Olbinski started in the 80s by creating covers for magazines, including Time and Newsweek. He aslo did covers for foreign publications. Later, he moved on to do commissions and work on canvas. Perhaps his most striking artwork is his huge collection of Opera posters.

Here are a couple of links to Olbinski's work. Amazing. (And yes, there are a few naked women...)

Rafal Olbinski Paintings
Optical Illusions
Opera Posters
Jule Collins Smith Museum -- Olbinski Exhibit

And, just because I feel the need to state what was probably obvious to you from the beginning, there was, of course, a reception for the artist and attendees in the atrium of the museum. That is, free food. Good food -- pita chips with hummus and olive spread, calamata olives (already pitted!) and other great stuff. If you can't tell, I was especially excited about the olives. Love that salty purple olive taste.

Great artwork. Great food. Great date. (Thanks, love!)