Gaithersburg’s Arts on the Green presents “Modern Surrealists,” an exhibit featuring the works of Marco Cuba-Ricsi, John Duke and Thomas Germer  from May 5 through July 4, 2017.  These three gifted artists take their viewers into other realms through their work, skillfully mixing reality and the dream world.  The gallery is located in the Arts Barn at 311 Kent Square Road, with viewing hours Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to meet the artists during a free Artists Reception on Thursday, May 18 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Marco Cuba-Ricsi is a multidisciplinary artist. His work is based on a mix of subjective surrealism bordering abstraction, with the continued use of symbolism in most of his paintings. He likes to work with subliminal messages through figures and forms that draw the viewer to delve into the inner world of the artist. Using a refined technique, Cuba-Ricsi achieves a harmonious combination of light and shadows that intermingle with the figures.

Cuba- Ricsi is president and founder of THE LATINO ART LEAGUE of GREATER WASHINGTON DC, as well as a member of various associations and local art leagues. He is also an activist and art advocate, self-taught photographer, writer, freelance graphic designer and instructor.  His work has been published and exhibited nationally and internationally and may be found in both in private and public collections.  More information may be found at www.cubaricsi.com.

John C. Duke is an oil painter whose highly detailed surreal images focus on the themes of the world's delicate environment and this country's crumbling infrastructure. His dream-like images frequently possess a solitary feel that feature human or animal subjects placed in man-made environments of decay or deterioration. For many years, Duke has been fascinated by differing textures. He has made a point of photographing old brick buildings, cracked cement walls, and dilapidated stairwells as reference material--all of which become perfect backdrops for his unique and thought-provoking surrealistic paintings.

Thomas A. Germer has always been interested in photography and optics. As a career physicist, he specializes in studying how light interacts with materials and how one can learn about a material by the way it reflects or transmits light as a function of wavelength, direction, or polarization. As a photographic artist, he likes to explore how lighting, color, and perspective affect how we perceive objects. Germer views the world with a unique sense of humor and, using his experience in physics and optics, he tries to put what he sees in an interesting perspective. Viewing an object from a different vantage point gives us a different perspective, and often makes the object into something different than what we normally think of it as. Mixing two dissimilar and contrasting subjects in one image is a means to express drama, humor, and/or irony, and he likes to explore this aspect of photography.   More information may be found at www.tagermer.com.