Ask any woman you know and she will likely agree that trying to get a guy to go to an art gallery is like drawing water from a stone. Plainsboro resident and photographer Rico Telofski thinks he knows why. “Much of fine art reflects thoughts about nature and romanticism and tends to appeal to women’s sensibilities,” he says. “That is not what I relate to. I think from a guy’s perspective.”
“Art for Guys,” an exhibit of Telofski’s photographic and graphic composites that reflect society from what Telofski views as a humorously masculine point of view, opens at the Gourgaud Gallery, located in Cranbury Town Hall, with a reception on Friday, January 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibit runs through January 28. “Guys should come to the reception,” says Telofski. “Even if they don’t buy anything, they’ll score points with the ladies, and there will be free eats.”
The 27 pop art works on display, many of which can be seen on Telofski’s website at www.PopArtPhotography.com, hit their message with the immediacy of top flight advertising. The piece, “Please Shower Responsibly,” includes a shower caddy, razor, and soap artfully arranged next to beer cans. “Barfing,” from the series “What Your Clothes Do While They Are Waiting For You To Get In Them,” shows a wobbly shirt, shoes, and slacks perched shakily on a chair after a few too many drinks, complete with relics of empty bottles and glasses on the floor.
Politically conservative, Telofski’s works sometime can’t resist a right-wing tweaking of the political nose. His piece, “French Marines,” showing toy soldiers packed in sardine cans that reads “Watch ‘em give up,” is too humorous and graphically impressive to offend even the most diehard liberal.
A resident of Plainsboro for the past 23 years, Telofski was born and raised in north Jersey where his mother was a secretary and his father worked in a chemical plant. Although he has been a commercial and arts photographer only for the past three years, he has always been an amateur photographer. “I initially got into photography on a bet with my brother,” he says. “He was an art major in college and I was in high school. I wanted to prove that I was better than he was.”
While Telofski earned his bachelors degree from Rider University and an MBA in marketing from the College of New Jersey, his brother went on to become an accomplished watercolorist and pen and ink artist. Telofski then began a career as a salesperson for a railroad and as a consultant, but photography was always his first love. “I had wanted to work in photography ever since I was in college, and I finally decided to make the big change,” he says.
All pieces in the show are available for sale but must be purchased from Telofski after the show. Prices range from $145 to $395. “They can come in various sizes and styles of framing,” says Telofski. “If people see something they like, but want it (framed) a little differently from what they see at the show, I can accommodate them.”
—Jack Florek
“Art For Guys,” the Gourgaud Gallery, located in Cranbury Town Hall, Friday, January 7 through Sunday, January 28. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays. Opening reception, Friday, January 7, from 6 to 8 p.m.
