about Ralph A Hanggi Jr

I often told my students over the years," you don't choose art, art chooses you"

How is one chosen? In my case was it a fourth grade teacher who encouraged me to build a cardboard robot and paint it with Acrylics?

As a 10th grader reading a Time magazine article about Picasso's "Man With A Sword" with an accompanying color reproduction; an image that resonates to this day?

Mentors James Conaway, Guggenheim Fellow Frank Herrmann and the late Tarrence Corbin, all great teachers, all accomplished painters and all strong advocates for my art even when it may not have been warranted?

For me the question is not easy to answer and like art itself it spawns more questions, creates more road blocks and presents myriad problem-solving challenges. I believe it is my charge to best resolve the formal art issues that my art presents, not under the naive notion of final resolution or mastery, but in the knowledge that the rewards are in the search.

Art has chosen me and I hope you find it was a good choice.

And yes my palette will go to eleven.