Eclipse, 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. Eclipse refers to the obscuring of light from one celestial body by passage of another between it and an observer. Moreover, eclipse refers to a falling into obscurity, decline or transit. With this in mind, the art piece, Eclipse, evolved during the Covid pandemic when the artist was considering effects of the virus on the lives of people and society.

To Raymond, the virus created darkness in lives and was coming between many families and friends and eclipsing or obscuring the beauty of people’s lives and relationships. This is illustrated by the circles in Eclipse which are half-darkened and thus obscuring the “light” against darkened backgrounds at top and bottom. The center panel is lighter with a shining dot in the center suggesting there is light at the end of the “tunnel” with recovery.

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.