While this week’s cover artist, Robert Rasely, passed away in 2005 at the age of fifty-five (as noted in a previous “Honoring the Artist” article) we are delighted to write about this special artist once again.

While still relatively young when he died, Mr. Rasely left a rich professional background and significant artistic achievements behind.

Consider first his training and education. Growing up in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Mr. Rasely studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for four years (1978 - 1982), where one of his teachers was Will Barnet, a well-known artist, who himself often exhibited here in East Hampton.

Both before and after graduating, Mr. Rasely found early success in various ways, initially being awarded the William Emien Gresson Scholarship to study in Italy and the Netherlands, then showing with New York’s Allan Stone Gallery, and finally receiving the Adolph and Clara Obrig Prize by the National Academy of Design.

That Mr. Rasely’s gift for painting was recognized is also evident in the many art exhibits he was given, including an early one at Philadelphia’s Marian Locks Gallery in 1983, and then through the years, in San Francisco, Easton, Pennsylvania and several at the Allan Stone Gallery.

The artist’s last solo show at the Allan Stone Gallery was in 2005 and called “Enigmatic Landscapes”; the cover piece, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Kingfisher” is from that exhibit. It seems a good choice to convey Mr. Rasely’s signature style and theme; the gallery show’s title “enigmatic” seems like an appropriate description of the work as well.

One can’t help but recall the movie staring Robin Williams with “Kingfisher” in the title. The bird became a metaphor for Williams, characterizing his puzzling and unpredictable personality. In a word: he was an enigma, too, as he was also a “kingfish” or master of his unconventional domain.

So, too, is Mr. Rasely’s kingfish in control of his environment, sitting on a twig (or throne), surveying all that surrounds him. Yet as clear and distinct as the bird’s image is, the background suggests a mythical and mysterious ambience.

Other work by Rasely in the “Enigmatic Landscape” show expanded on this idea and featured “ magical, often grotesque paintings depicting dream-like interiors and landscapes inhabited by odd objects and creatures.”

References to diverse sources also help explain Mr. Rasely’s style and themes, including the idea that his works “recall religious icon painting, as well as Renaissance painting, but with a surrealistic under-tone. The soft blues, pinks and yellows play against dark browns and greens to create sceneries that are filled with light and shadow, yet are strangely empty,”

To see Mr. Rasely’s work, contact the Allan Stone Gallery at 212-987-4997or go to allanstonegallery.com