Current Featured Artists

New Group Exhibit

at IMAGO Gallery
Featuring IFA Exhibiting Artist Carl Keitner

IFA Spotlight Artist Gary Heise and Guest Artist GIFFA

Including other IFA Exhibiting Artists

May 7 – June 13 | Reception Saturday, May 9, 5–8 PM |Music by harpist Mary King

The Other Water Sport, 2025, photography, 11x14" by Carl Keitner

The Puszta, 2025, Photography, by Carl Keitner

Carl Keitner | Featured Artist

IFA Exhibiting Artist Carl Keitner emigrated from Hungary as a child with his family in 1957. He returned via motorcycle from Paris in 1986 and while there experienced an epiphany in the midst of a rainstorm that if he had a soul it was there in Hungary. In 2025, the year he turned 80, he traveled back again, this time with a camera, to find out if it was true. Photographic images of the people and places he encountered on this journey are part of this new group exhibit.

After emigrating to Canada with his family, Keitner eventually earned a fine arts degree in graphic design and photography at Ecole des Beaux Arts de Montreal. After graduating, he owned and operated a graphic design studio where his clients included advertising agencies, magazines and local businesses. He moved to Providence in 1990 where he opened a photography studio in Wayland Square on the East Side, specializing in black-and-white portraiture. For the last several years, he has experimented with alternate photo processes, created sculptures, and painted on canvas, but never left behind his true passion—black-and-white photography.

He experienced an epiphany in the midst of a rainstorm that if he had a soul it was there in Hungary.

The Atrocity, 2025, Photography by Carl Keitner

As a special feature of this exhibit, Keitner is inviting people to visit him in the gallery on Saturday, May 30 from 2–4 pm to look closely at his work and share their thoughts and questions with him.

Gary Heise | IFA Spotlight Artist

Heise’s artwork in this exhibit draws on the traditions of Chinese brush painting and Japanese sumi-e, emphasizing the vitality of the brushstroke and a directness of expression. He paints in ink and watercolor on Chinese rice papers, depicting scenes of coastal Rhode Island and the rolling hills of the Hudson River Valley, as well as imaginative, semi-abstract land and seascapes.

Drawing on the traditions of Chinese brush painting and Japanese sumi-e, my watercolors emphasize the vitality of the brushstroke and a directness of expression. Central to my practice is the philosophy of 'self-cultivation,' where the process of creation itself becomes a journey of mindful expression.

"Spring Thaw," 13.5 x 18" ink and watercolor on xuan paper by Gary Heise

“Afterglow,” 13.5 x 18" ink and watercolor on xuan paper by Gary Heise

“My paintings explore the transient beauty of nature, illustrating how everything—from the fleeting aspects of weather to the ancient rocks beneath our feet—is both alive and ever-changing. I invite the viewer to pause and connect with these precious, shared experiences of nature’s beauty.”

—Gary Heise

GIFFA | Guest Artist

GIFFA spray paints on canvas. He spends hours with a pencil, pen, and small knife, sketching, refining, and cutting intricate stencils before transferring them to canvas and spray painting. He says, “My work swings between moods: sometimes gritty and emotional, sometimes playful or steeped in irony. Some paintings dig into deeply personal experiences; others wink at the absurdity of daily life. Each work carries its own tone and its own message.”

“At its core, my work is about connection—a pause, a laugh, a hit of recognition. The work invites you to feel, to reflect, to pause—even for a moment. Because for me, that moment might just be everything.” —GIFFA