Get ready to be dazzled! Ron Isaacs’ upcoming solo exhibition is nothing short of extraordinary. Known for his trompe l’oeil creations — painted birch plywood constructions that mimic fabric folds, botanical elements, tools, and found objects with uncanny realism — Isaacs has long blurred the line between painting and sculpture, crafting works that are “exactly halfway between” the two mediums.
In this new body of work, viewers can anticipate a poetic interplay of form and illusion – delicate garments seeming to float, branches and nostalgic objects rendered with meticulous precision, each piece inviting a double take. Isaacs’s deft handling of shape, negative space, and surface color gives each artwork both physical presence and emotional resonance, prompting viewers to question what is real and what is craftsmanship.
What truly sets Isaacs apart is not only his technical mastery — cutting, layering, and painting birch plywood into evocative forms — but also the subtle narrative tension he imbues in his compositions. He builds in cues that challenge perception, delicately “violating” expectations just enough to make you pause and reconsider what you’re seeing. This exhibition promises to be an immersive encounter with one of contemporary art’s most quietly compelling illusionists — a moment to see how the everyday can become visually and psychologically extraordinary.
Simultaneously, the Racine Art Museum (WI) will host “Collection Focus: Ron Isaacs” through October 25, 2025, featuring an expansive retrospective of his career, including early canvas pieces, drawings, art jewelry, and over 20 painted wood constructions.
This concurrent dual presentation underscores Isaacs’ stature as a consummate artist whose studio practice is both rigorous and consistently engaging. Across nearly six decades of making — refined, daily work that blends painting and sculptural illusion — he continues to astonish. At Momentum Gallery, visitors will experience his latest explorations in form, color, and texture in an intimate, theatrical setting. At RAM, they’ll be swept into a broader historical arc of his evolution, from early experiments to more recent breakthroughs.
Together, these exhibitions celebrate Isaacs’s rare blend of technical virtuosity and quiet narrative power — reminding us why Ron Isaacs is regarded as one of the most mature and compelling contemporary artists working today.
