A two person exhibition "Sacred and Profane" by Ray Kruger and Dolores Mitchell, cousins, opens at Avenue 9 Gallery with a reception and artists’ talk on Saturday, April 2, from 6 to 9pm. Kruger and Mitchell explore contemporary manifestations of traditional themes of virtue and vice.

Kruger and Mitchell attended Chicago Art Institute classes together as teenagers where instructors encouraged them to roam the city with sketchbooks to capture the vitality of life in motion. After class they would explore the museum; Dutch masters such as Rembrandt, Impressionists including Monet and Renoir, and Van Gogh and Munch, Expressionists, attracted them in particular. They came to understand that profound art deals with the keenest pleasures and most extreme conflicts in life.

The cousins continue to encourage each other and to offer critiques on works-in-progress. They share in common a fascination for both the endless variety found in nature and in human nature. Mitchell will be showing several paintings inspired by her sketches of people in Chico bars. She says: "In bars, light functions as a disorienting force through glittering mirrors and reflections in glasses and bottles; people play out personal fantasies in the artificial atmosphere."

Kruger says, "Now that my kids are grown and I have fewer responsibilities I’m always eager to load up my old Open Road motor home with the Three ‘Bs’—baked beans, bread and bananas—and take off on a painting expedition. I was exploring Crystal Cove near Laguna Beach when I came upon a big party. People were tossing Frisbees and dancing to rock music. It was a gaudy scene with umbrellas, ice chests, plastic toys, and brilliantly colored bathing suits. It reminded me of a Breugel wedding scene with people flirting, getting tipsy and letting instincts be their guides."

Kruger and Mitchell share the belief that painting directly from nature is essential to artistic growth. They also feel free to distort colors, shapes and space in the interest of expressive force.