Come watch local painter strive for greatness
On Chattanooga’s Southside, across the parking lot behind the new Moxy hotel, a striking collection of oil paintings is being created by Rik Herrmann at the WanderLinger Brewing Company.
Rik’s work is objective, ranging in style from colorful brush strokes assembled into recognizable images (like Van Gogh) to masterfully blended applications that look strikingly real, almost photographic (like Dali). A wide range of oil painting style, vivid imagination, determination, and keen sense of humor all propel his work, making a series of works that are quite entertaining.
Herrmann’s family told him as a kid that he had talent as an artist.
“It was a lie, but I believed it, and ended up getting an art minor from a small liberal arts school in Harrogate, TN,” he says. “Not until my 41st year did I realize how terrible my art actually was, so in May of 2017, I rededicated myself to painting with oils, so as to see how far down the rabbit hole I might go.”
He has been deeply inspired by the work of Tim Warner, Eric Keller, Eric Turner, Cory French, BeBe DeGord, Van Gogh, Dali, Jongkind, Millet and all the French Impressionists, Mark Maggiori, and Chris Long.
“The fear of being good inspires me. I don’t want to be a good artist—I want to be the best artist you’ve ever seen,” he explains. “Will I get there? Hell no...but it won’t be for a lack of dedicated, focused, and tireless effort to achieve greatness.”
There are several brands of oil paint that fill his palette, ranging from Gamblin to Grumbacher to Winton & Newton to Rembrandt to Van Gogh. His brushes are a hodgepodge of almost exclusively impulse purchases. His process is relatively simple: he sees something awesome, and tries to paint it.
“Then, I struggle and fight like hell to battle through a lack of motivation and feelings of huge inadequacies until I get something worth showing to a friend,” he quips.
With all humor aside, Herrmann’s approach is a serious dedication that he approaches with great humility. His philosophy is to create or to think about art every single day, without fail, so that he gives himself the greatest chance to create something special.
“Breaking through comfort zones is hugely crucial to progressing as an artist—I learned that through live painting in the WanderLinger Art Gallery, and by painting en plein air with Tim Warner,” he says. “It is necessary to attempt something challenging and to fail multiple times in your efforts...but to never give up. Be forgiving of mistakes, embrace those embarrassing moments as directional signs, and be ready to open your mind mid-stream.”
Rik live paints at the WanderLinger Art Gallery several times a week, pulling double duty as gallery curator.
“Curating the gallery at WanderLinger Brewing Company has been the most rewarding vocation I’ve ever had the good fortune to do,” he notes. “It carries a great responsibility on so many levels. Our goal is to share art with the Chattanooga community in a way that encourages open discussion between artist and observer (hence the Artist Talks) while also supporting emerging and established local artists by giving them a unique venue to display their works.”
Rik explains that curator has influenced his work by challenging him to be better than he was before, to push his limits beyond what he had in mind previously, and to jealously pursue artistic knowledge like never before.
Right now, he is working furiously to complete fresh, new works for an art show at WanderLinger. He is finishing up a large triplicate study of the “Spring” statue at the end of Market Street bridge, a replica of Monet’s “San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk”, several Chattanooga scenes, a surrealist Johnny Cash portrait, a huge Dali Rose with Egyptian afterlife pictogram, an interpretation of Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Teresa”, and then, of course, his National Geographic Girl will be making another appearance.
The huge show is coming up on Thursday, April 25th at 6:30 p.m. with an Artist Talk following at WanderLinger Brewing Company. It will be a free show with tasty beer, and the size of the art ranges from 14” x 14” up to 4’ by 5’.