Photography exhibit in Warren

Imago Foundation for the Arts (IFA) will host an all photography exhibit featuring IFA artists Carl Keitner, Howard Rotblat-Walker, and Lenny Rumpler, with guest artist Ben Muri at IMAGO Gallery, 36 Market Street, Warren, from June 6-July 14.

The public is invited to a free reception on Friday, June 7, from 6–8 pm.

Carl Keitner was born in Budapest, Hungary, shortly after World War II and fled the country in 1956. After emigrating to Canada, Keitner earned a Fine Arts degree from the École des Beaux Arts in Montreal. Keitner’s career include stints as an art director for various publishing companies and as a photographer specializing in black and white portraiture. His current works, “Es Cuba,” is a visual representation of his understanding of life in Cuba today. His photographs document his “curiosity and passion” for the people and landscapes of this island nation and the struggles endured.

Howard Rotblat-Walker developed his interest in photography in the late 1960s and has been actively exhibiting his work for the past few years. Inspired by an appreciation for abstract art, Italian design, architecture, and Japanese visual aesthetics, his work has garnered numerous awards. Rotblat-Walker’s current works extend his explorations in photographic abstraction. He is intrigued and fascinated by peering into kaleidoscopes. “Watching the changing mirrored, multiplied patterns as the iridescent bits shift and fall generates a magical fascination.”

Lenny Rumpler has an extensive history as a photographer—he received his first camera as a present from his parents in 1941 and created his first darkroom in the late 1950s. Over time, Rumpler has transitioned from film-based photography to digital, from producing black and white images to color, from deploying chemical processors to a computer and Photoshop. As an artist, Rumpler’s mission is to capture images that move him because of their “composition or juxtaposition of colors or forms.” Whether abstract or narrative, Rumpler is constantly experimenting and rethinking his approach to both medium and subject matter.

Guest artist Ben Muri is slowly losing his vision. His body of works includes photographs of “nature, portraits, and fire spinning.” Born and raised in Rhode Island, Muri earned a BFA in Film and Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University, and began working as a camera operator, editor, and set photographer. Muri suffers from Stickler’s Syndrome, which affects his vision, hearing and joint function. For IMAGO Gallery, Muri produced sets of two photographs—one hindered and one unhindered. His exhibit “Blind VisionTM” contrasts photographs of his artistic vision with those of his actual vision.