Les Malamut Art Gallery

Meet the Artist reception:
Thursday May 29, 6:30pm to 7:30pm

A discussion by the artist of his paintings will take place at a date to be announced.

Siimes is a pure Plein-Air artist, which means all of his work is done on location. "In this way," he states "I get to enjoy and capture the atmosphere of the scene". He believes that "There are no set formulas
for beauty in a landscape. It can be found throughout the day and under many different atmospheres. It is for the Plein-Air artist to find the scene and bring its subtleties to the canvas."

Siimes has created 200 paintings to date, utilizing several compositional themes: Stripes, Offset Focus, the Square's Diagonal
and the Raritan River Series. “Compositionally I find myself drawn to two basic types of scenes. The first are distant views where there is some compositional element to bring the viewer back into the space. The second are what I call the "stripe" paintings. These are scenes where there are multiple vertical and / or horizontal screens that define several layers of space. The viewer travels through the scene with the stripes holding the composition together.”

Some artists use photographs to paint a scene frozen in time. Siimes feels this to be flat and it robs the artist of the opportunity to discover the full spectrum of color, the subtle changes that occur to a scene and the dynamic nature of the process. It is this quality that has lead him to specialize as a Plein-Air artist.


Raritan River Series - Painting 11 Oil, 36"x36"	The Fountain at Bethesda Terrace, Oil, 24"x20"

Siimes holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and continues to practice architecture. He is affiliated with the Somerset County Art Association, American
Impressionist Society, as well as several other art organizations. He is also an associate artist with the Riverfront Renaissance Art Center. He has had numerous solo and group shows, including Somerset Art
Association, Berkeley Heights Public Library and Notre Dame Annual Art Show in Villanova PA. His work is currently on display at the Designers Gallery in Clark.