Now that his four-day stint in Riverhead is over — where he painted a boat in bright colors almost as intense as his personality, gave a couple of talks, held a workshop and, in his words, “enjoyed this great little town” — international visionary artist Chris Dyer is moving on.
The Montreal-based, Peruvian-Canadian visionary artist spends half his time traveling around the globe, creating art and exploring the world and, he says, himself. But he’ll be back.
At least that’s the plan being developed by Riverhead Community Development director Chris Kempner, who came across Chris Dyer’s Positive Creations Facebook page one day, found inspiration in his deeply spiritual work, and set about to bring him to Riverhead.
He was an East End Arts “artist in residence” from Thursday through Sunday. One of the products of his efforts is a brightly spray-painted wooden rowing boat that will become a public art installation somewhere downtown, Kempner says. Dyer also worked with participants who painted rain barrels donated by Peconic Estuary Program, which will also be placed downtown. He gave two talks, one with a viewing of a biographical video and another accompanying a slideshow of his works around the world.
Dyer’s work brightly reflects his spirituality and passion, with strong influences of native cultures. It often depicts the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, he explained during his talk and slideshow inside the historic Fresh Pond schoolhouse at East End Arts Saturday morning.
“Some of what he said really hit me right between the eyes,” Greg Conrad of Riverhead said after the talk. “What a blessing this turned out to be.”
A trio of fans from Ronkonkoma came for the talk and to meet the artist in person.
“We’re big Chris Dyer fans,” Anthony Policastro said. “We love visionary art, especially his and Alex Gray’s. The positive and negative, it’s trippy as hell, and just beautiful,” he said.
Kempner is scouting other places and objects for future works by Dyer. She is mulling the idea of Riverhead hosting a visionary art festival in the future.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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