Paul Saenger: People, Politics and the Pandemic opening reception

Paul Saenger of Asheville retired from a career as an orthopedic surgeon in 2019. Having taken a few drawing and painting classes in preparation for something to do, the world then shut down. Equipped with these fundamentals, he pursued a creative opportunity here represented in People, Politics and the Pandemic.

Artist Statement:

Saenger explains, “I had no intentional theme, just a desire to develop skills to express reflections on what I saw of the world around me. Some are of a political nature, some of the pandemic which dominated everyone’s life until recently. Initially, there was an element of whimsy, but increasingly, with disappointment and concern over the lack of effective leadership and the failure of public recognition and acceptance of the realities of the crisis, I increasingly drifted to creating portraits, a Pygmalion-like effort, perhaps, to populate my life with the many people I no longer saw since retiring and then complicated by the pandemic shut down.”

Exhibition dates: July 21, 2023–August 20, 2023