Varanasi, Sunrise on the Ganga Painting

Rex Maurice Oppenheimer ARTIST and WRITER Honestly, my story is too long to tell here, so I’ll try to give you an overview. Although I had won awards for my art at a very young age, after I dropped out of high school, and after a deep involvement in the Civil Rights movement, I took off on a wayward journey. Writing, prose and poetry, both of which have garnered me awards, dominated my artistic expression for many years. That quest, fueled by wanderlust, romanticism and artistic passion, propelled me through a checkered past, which included smuggling pre-Columbian art out of Mexico, writing lyrics in Los Angeles, with songs recorded by Jennifer Warnes, Juice Newton and others, dabbling as a writer in the movie business, working with Liam Neeson and Penny Marshall, vagabonding throughout India and across Asia, and, at one time, living in London’s Belgravia replete with Rolls and chauffer. And École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1969. It was in 2010, while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that I began to paint in earnest. I had met the artist Roger Williams, who, after seeing some of my sketches, invited me to his studio. I workshopped with Roger in that beautiful studio a few times, and although brief, I leaned some important basics. I painted in oil and acrylic for years; I am now working digitally. Even though I create on an iPad, I am still painting, blending and mixing colors, applying strokes; it's all there. Quite frankly, a lot of artist statements sound very pretentious to me. Painting to identify or relate to so many social issues, or whatever. I am inspired by art; I want to make good art. Anis Nin once said, "every artist wants to speak to the world." I say, The world is a tiny room, around it blaze the stars, and artist's voices echo soon, and find they never left the heart. I want to touch your heart. My paintings have been exhibited in a variety of venues, including bG Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert, Simon Den Gallery, Cathedral City, and Smith Vargus Fine Art, Palm Springs, as well as galleries in Laguna Beach and Los Angeles, and purchased by private collectors in the United States, Europe and Australia. Now, as dual French and American citizens, my wife Michele and I have been dividing our time between Palm Springs, California, and France. ARTIST STATEMENT: Anis Nin once said, "every artist wants to speak to the world.