Grayhaven Motel Gallery
Located at 657 Elmira Rd. Ithaca
For more information please go tohttps://grayhavenmotel.com/press/events/
George Rhoads: "Neck of the Woods" Landscape paintings inspired by the Finger Lakes from the 2000s
George Rhoads (1926–2021) was an American painter, sculptor, inventor, and origami artist whose career explored the relationship between art, imagination, mechanics, and movement. Although internationally known for his whimsical audiokinetic “ball machine” sculptures, painting remained an important part of his artistic life.
Rhoads studied at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to New York to pursue painting. His early work included portraits and expressive urban scenes. In 1952, while living in Paris, he held his first solo exhibition at Gallery Huit, featuring watercolors of landscapes and city scenes. His painting practice encompassed expressionistic cityscapes, trompe-l’œil works inspired by Renaissance traditions, and scenes drawn from American history and folklore. His paintings were exhibited at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery in New York and entered notable collections, including those of Leonard Bernstein and the Forbes Museum.
Alongside painting, Rhoads developed innovative kinetic sculptures combining metal, sound, movement, and rolling steel balls. In 1981, he was commissioned to create 42nd Street Ballroom for the New York/New Jersey Port Authority Bus Terminal. Collector and patron David Bermant supported and commissioned Rhoads’s work, helping bring his sculptures into public spaces around the world. Rhoads worked closely with fabricator Bob McGuire, whose Rockstream Studios in Ithaca produced and installed works internationally; Creative Machines later continued their fabrication.
In the final decades of his life, Rhoads returned increasingly to painting, finding inspiration in the landscapes of the Finger Lakes. His connection to Ithaca became an important part of his artistic life, with particular attention to light, atmosphere, water, and twilight, bringing his lifelong exploration of landscape, perception, and wonder into close relationship with the place he called home.
