Ambedo IV, 2024
Raymond Papka
48 x 24 inches
Mixed Media assemblage – wax, resin, papers, repurposed objects

Raymond starts most art pieces with a title which drives the evolution of the work. Ambedo refers to a kind of momentary trance in which the person becomes completely absorbed in beauty or vivid sensory details or a state in which one briefly soaks in the experience of being alive, doing so purely for its own sake. For example, someone experiencing ambedo might be absorbed in the sound of raindrops on a window, the way trees lean in the wind, or the swirling clouds of cream in their coffee.

Ambedo IV is part of a series of art pieces done during the waning times of the covid pandemic when daily there was immense quietness in Raymond’s life and he contemplated his gratefulness of remaining healthy and being able to enjoy the beauty of his surroundings and family.

Price: $2,400

Meet the Artist:

Raymond Papka was born in Thermopolis, Wyoming in 1945. Having grown up in a rural, remote small town, his early childhood found him attracted to various small objects that were often discarded and “found” by the eye of an object admirer; such as old utensils, buttons, mechanical parts, and rusty metal remnants. Repurposing found objects and assembling them into pieces of art became a focus and a passion.

Use of objects in assemblages fit well with encaustic painting (beeswax + resin) and allows for wide ranging experimentation in art making. This fit with Raymond’s background education in science with undergraduate studies in Zoology and Chemistry, graduate studies in Anatomy and Neuroscience, and long career as a university research scientist.

Raymond is a self-taught artist, although he had abundant experience in photography, composition, printing, experimentation as part of his research, and woodworking as a life-long hobby. Raymond has won numerous prizes at art festivals across many states and has had exhibitions in libraries, museums, and art centers. His work has been exhibited in galleries from California to Tennessee and locally in Kentucky.