statement

Painting is the medium that best expresses my ideas through my technical skill. There is a magical moment that happens when through this liquid medium, color and edge and value combine to create a window into another world that speaks to reality, yet is only this flat surface with color. It is the creation of illusion that I most want to capture in my paintings in addition to a narrative that can take the viewer through intriguing pathways. I have been intrigued by detritus: things accumulating in gutters, fireplaces and compost piles. There is a beauty in decomposition and refuse, and I have revisited this subject matter in several bodies of work: elements (earth, air, fire and water, and the four seasons.)

bio

born: 1962, Stuttgart, Germany

education

University of New Mexico, MFA 1993
University of New Mexico, MA with distinction 1991
University of Arizona, BFA 1984

selected awards/honors

Winner: 1st place Painting Award, Persona Arts Festival, International Juried Exhibition, The Rag Factory, London, UK. May 2011. Full color catalog.
2008-2009 Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship, Visual Arts Fellowship Award
2001 Baer Award in Painting, Wyoming Arts Council. Mark Masuoka, Director, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Denver, Juror.
1999 & 2000 Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship, Visual Arts Fellowship Award.

selected publications

2013 INPA International Painting Annual, International Exhibition in Print: Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Publication fall 2014.
2012 INPA International Painting Annual, International Exhibition in Print: Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Publication fall 2013.
2010 INPA International Painting Annual, International Exhibition in Print: Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Publication fall 2011.
2005 New American Paintings, Western Edition No. 60, Juried Publication, Fereshteh Daftari, Juror, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, NYNY.

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Into the Woods: Paintings by Ricki Klages, The View Gallery, Open Spaces Epping Forest, Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge; Chingford, City of London, United Kingdom, 2015
Restless Traveler, Juried Solo exhibition, John Day Gallery, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, 2012
Weird Sisters, North Bank Artists Gallery, Vancouver, Washington, 2011
A Restless Traveler, Colorida Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2011

selected group shows

Best of Wyoming, Invitational State Exhibition, Jackson Center for the Arts, Jackson, Wyoming, 2014
Self: An International Juried Exhibition of Womenís Self-Portraiture, Martha Gault Gallery, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, 2014
Fantastiske Figurationer, Invitational exhibition, Galerie Knud Grothe, 2920 Charlottenlund, Copenhagen, Denmark
Wide Open II, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, New York, 2011