IOWA CONTEMPORARY ART | 58 North Main Street, Fairfield, IA 52556
641-919-6252 | bill@icon-art.org | iconbillteeple@gmail.com
GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday through Saturday, 12:00 to 5:00pm and by appointment.
ICON is an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit educational charity. All donations are tax-deductible.
IOWA CONTEMPORARY ART
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Rutherford and Teeple Show at ICON in February
Abstraction/Realism, an exhibition featuring the work of Michael Rutherford and Bill Teeple opens at ICON
Friday, February 6th, 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. The small nonrepresentational abstract paintings by Rutherford
are juxtaposed to Teeple's small realistic landscapes. Both artist's small paintings draw one in, to experience
them intimately. One takes one to a poetic experience of the real world around us in Fairfield; the other
takes one deep into the world of color, form, texture and space. The show continues through April 11th.
“One might say that our works couldn’t be more different,” says Teeple “but I paired them together in this
show because although from two different worlds, they are very similar. The small format invites you to
come close where you experience Michael’s inner world and my outer world intimately.”
Rutherford’s and Teeple’s works exhibit refined craftsmanship. Teeple’s are executed in a detailed realistic
style more typical of the 19th century than the 21st century. Rutherford’s abstracts have a refinement that
recalls holding a precious object in one’s own hands. The subtle variations of surface and tone are enchanting.
In terms of subject matter, Teeple captures the intimate feelings and memories that the world around us
evokes. Rutherford’s works awaken feelings and memories that form, color and material evoke.
Rutherford states, “Painting is a form of communication that I use to record visual experiences as physically
encoded memories. These images serve as notational devices that signal or hint at my thoughts about things.
Composition, color, and mark-making are key elements of the work and are employed to coax each piece to
a certain point of completeness.”
Michael Rutherford was born and raised in Iowa and was introduced to art while working as a guard at the
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. In 1999, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Buena Vista University
with a BA in Political Science and is a self-taught artist. His work consists of paintings, experimental canvas
pieces and drawings. In 2009, he founded Painter’s Bread.com, and its companion site, Postmodern Toaster.
Through these forums, he has provided coverage of art exhibitions and has conducted interviews with an
emphasis on emerging artists. He currently lives near Fairfield, Iowa in the small town of Packwood.
Bill Teeple is well known in Fairfield as the founder and director of ICON Gallery, and owner of Bill Teeple
Fine Art Studio where he has taught art since 1998.
ICON Gallery is located at 58 N. Main Street, Fairfield. Gallery hours are noon to 5:00, Tuesday through
Saturday. For more information iconbillteeple@gmail.com, 641-919-6252.
A new show opens in the Hudson Gallery at ICON on First Friday, April 4th, 6:30 to
10:00 pm. A selection of 13 paintings from the ICON Collection of Shiva Linga paintings
will be on display. All of these works were made by tantrika families in the city of Udaiper
in Rajasthan, India. The exhibition will be on view through May, 2026.
The French poet Franck André Jamme first encountered South Asian Tantra paintings in
1970 in an art gallery in Paris. Jamme was fascinated by these paintings that were so close
to Western modern art, from Kazimir Malevich and Paul Klee to Agnes Martin and
Daniel Buren, and many others. During the subsequent years, Jamme discovered books
on Tantra art and he decided to try to find the artists who were creating these works.
Following several unsuccessful trips to India, including a horrific bus accident and three
years of recovery, he returned in 1989, beginning his search in the city of Udaïpur. There
he consulted a friend’s astrologer and soothsayer, who shed light on his mission and put
him in touch with two families of tantrika artists that were creating Tantra paintings. Over
the next few years, Jamme was introduced to a number of different tantrika families
throughout the state of Rajasthan and was given permission to bring some of their works
to Europe and America. Eventually he collaborated with Hudson, founder of the New York
gallery, Feature Inc., to assemble the collection of Shiva Linga paintings that now form
The Hudson Collection at ICON.
ICON Gallery is located at 58 N. Main Street, Fairfield. Gallery hours are noon to
5:00, Tuesday through Saturday. For more information iconbillteeple@gmail.com,
641-919-6252.
Tantra Art from Udaipur in ICON Hudson Gallery
NEXT 2026 ICON EXHIBITS:
Rutherford / Teeple
Abstraction / Realism
February 6th through April 11
Madeline de Joly Retrospective
May 1 through July 18, 2026
Curated by her daughter, Yvonne Simon and Bill Teeple
Gillian Brown Photography, New Works
August 4 through October 17, 2026
Large Scale Photos
