Artist
Rafael Francisco Salas
Ripon 1973
Professor and art department chair at Ripon College, Salas studied art in Minneapolis, London, New Mexico, and New York, but really hit his stride after he returned to Wisconsin and worked for a while on his mother’s sheep farm. His paintings include portraiture as well as landscape and often address the virtues and hardships of rural life. Underlying as well as overlaying the realism and the narrative are his Mexican-American identity and a distinct surrealist twist. Unexpected juxtapositions, strange details, and subtle distortions of form occur frequently. Salas is also a highly respected art critic, publishing widely throughout Wisconsin and in the Chicago area.
Image by Kasper Loftgaard