Harry Orlyk: New York Rural

Orlyk has been painting every day for more than 35 years. He vividly paints the landscape as he sees it from the dashboard of his van. He drives the countryside until he finds a scene that excites and inspires him. He sets up his canvas on the steering wheel and arranges his palette beside him.

He was born in New York in 1947. In 1971 after graduating college, he went on to graduate school at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Over the next nine years, he was influenced by several Nebraskan artists. “Still-life painter Robin Smith taught me how to use paint without turpentine – to paint from the tube.” He also admits the influence of photographer Lawrence McFarland, who taught him what spiritual space was and how to emphasize it. Lastly he credits well-known Lincoln painter Keith Jacobshagen with having impressed on him the importance of routine. He currently resides with his family in Salem, New York, near the Vermont border.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website