Apparently, muses don’t wear watches. At least that’s the case for artist Rocky Stroup, whose muse is a bit of a night owl.
The painter, sculptor, and photographer said his inspiration comes to him in the twilight state between dreaming and waking. In that way, his art becomes his tangible dreams, which have given birth to his latest show, Tangible Dreams, at C Gallery in Los Alamos.
“I keep a sketch pad on the night stand and scribble down ideas and concepts that will later be the seeds for future works of art,” Stroup said.
His late-night inspirations sometimes pose a challenge, such as when he has to decipher his tangled notes written in the dark, occasionally one on top of another.
Stroup, however, is used to taking action when inspiration strikes. He’s worked in the art field for more than 30 years and in fine art exclusively for the past 16 years. Much of his work is abstract action painting, but he also likes to immerse himself in symbolic sculpture and photographic imagery.
He fell in love with photography early in his career. He was working as an illustrator in the Los Angeles area after attending Art Center College of Design. To enhance his photo reference skills to apply them to illustration, he took photography classes at Pasadena City College, which sparked his interest in the medium.
Stroup also spent time as a designer and prop builder in the movie industry before moving to the Central Coast 16 years ago. Since then, he’s pursued fine art full time.
His love of photography led him to start the Lompoc Photographers Guild, which recently held its first show in Lompoc.
“It’s been a big part of my life for a year now,” Stroup said. “It felt good to introduce the [guild] to the community.”
Stroup sells his work primarily in the western United States and has garnered awards for his art. Most recently, he won first place in the annual Santa Barbara County “Best of the Best” competition with an assemblage featuring a photographic ad infinitum titled You Are Here.
That perspective-bending piece, are well as many other photographs, are on exhibit in Tangible Dreams, as are large abstracts and sculptures. Some of the works reach a new dimension with the inclusion of 3-D glasses.
Connie Rohde, owner of C Gallery, said the exhibit inspired her.
“The work in person is electric,” she said.
This isn’t Stroup’s first exhibit at C Gallery. In October, his wall sculpture, Thirteen Years of Pill Poppin’, featured in the gallery’s Pop Show, drew quite a bit of attention, Rohde said. The piece was made up of more than 1,000 pill bottles attached in long streams cascading out of the frame. The bottles were the remnants of the medications Stroup had to take to stay alive after five bypasses.
“It was both shocking to view, and poignant to ponder, looking at the very bottles which had sustained him,” Rohde said.
The show will feature many of Stroup’s wall sculptures and large abstract paintings, with some smaller photographs thrown in.
The centerpiece of the show is a large 4-by-4-foot red glass, metal, and barbed wire heart, titled Guarded Heart.
“When the light hits it, it lights the room,” Rohde said.
The C Gallery show will also be Stroup’s last show on the Central Coast. He and his family are moving to Southern California, drawn by more family and some of the galleries where Stroup displays his work. He said he’ll be back for visits and has enjoyed making friends and living on the Central Coast. And in that way, this show is a gift.
“It’s kind of a nice thing to leave the community with this show—to leave on a high note,” he said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone can light up any room. Throw on some shades and contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 12-19, 2009.