OASF Gifts Major Work by Robert Bibler to Salem Convention Center

The Salem Convention Center has acquired a significant painting by Salem artist Robert Bibler for its collection through a unique partnership with and a gift from the nonprofit Oregon Artists Series Foundation (OASF). Bibler’s Mystere Ontologique, a 36“ x 48“ oil on canvas work, has been installed on the west end of the Center’s first floor, where it can be seen during events and business hours. 

Since 2006, the Oregon Artists Series has facilitated the support of art throughout the Convention Center: the Mayor’s Invitational Art exhibitions and purchase of works from it; acquisitions and loans of exterior sculptures installed south of the building; and collaborations with the Hallie Ford Museum of Art which loans contemporary works from its collection at Willamette University.

Mystère Ontologique (Ontological Mystery or Mystery of Being) is a surrealist still life painting concerning the mysteries and correspondences of the natural world and the mystery of being and reality. And of human perception. (Ontology––the science of being or reality; the branch of knowledge that investigates the nature, essential properties, and relations of being.) The painting is based on Bibler’s 1989 pastel drawing on black Arches Cover paper (30” x 44”), The Logic of the Moist Eye II. 

In promoting an exhibit of Bibler’s work in 2018, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, wrote,  “For over 40 years, Rob Bibler (b. 1948) has combined a fascination with cinematic storytelling, classic filmmaking and Renaissance art to create a body of beautifully rendered and thoughtful work. A master draftsman, Bibler embraces figurative representation and symbolism in his surreal, narrative works that distort space and time.

Bibler lives in Salem and taught studio art and film studies at Chemeketa Community College for 30 years, retiring in 2003. He also helped bring classic and contemporary films to the Salem public for years as Coordinator of the Wednesday Evening Film Series. Bibler has exhibited extensively in the Pacific Northwest and his work is included in public and private collections throughout the region. He earned his BFA from the University of Washington and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.