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John HrehovTangent - Surreal Still Life - Coffee Table Setting, Oil on Panel2025
2025
$3,800
£2,939.14
€3,346.05
CA$5,456.19
A$5,961.05
CHF 3,124.21
MX$71,176.86
NOK 39,537.15
SEK 36,867.57
DKK 24,989.62
About the Item
This painting is John Hrehov’s Tangent, an oil on panel from 2025. In it, a modern red sofa runs straight across the back of the room, set against a grid of tall windows that open onto a deep blue evening sky with dark, triangular trees on either side. A round glass coffee table fills the foreground; its surface reflects the window grid so strongly that the table becomes a second abstracted “window” lying flat on the floor. At the center of this circle stands a clear glass vase packed with pink lilies that radiate outward like a small fire, and off to one side sits a short glass holding a dark red liquid. The only hint of a figure is the dog’s head printed on a throw pillow resting on the sofa, staring out toward us. Everything is carefully placed, frontally presented, and intensely still.
Seen in the context of Hrehov’s oeuvre, Tangent is a very pure instance of what he and critics have called his “allegorical realism”: the use of seemingly insignificant objects as symbols in order to tell a story.
For decades he has painted modest interiors and exteriors—rooms, houses, yards—yet staged them with a kind of architectural exactness so that each object feels charged with meaning. Here the lilies, the wine-dark drink, and the dog pillow form a set of characters in a drama that never quite declares itself. The composition’s symmetry and flat, even light recall the way he often abstracts realism into pattern and structure, an approach that survey texts describe as a meditation on the natural and spiritual world, infused with surrealism and mystery.
If you place Tangent alongside works like Holiday End—the oil painting of a boy sliding a Christmas tree into a fireplace in an almost empty room—you can see the same strategy at work: a familiar Midwestern interior transformed into a stage where something quietly unsettling is taking place.
John Hrehov
In Holiday End, the odd action supplies the narrative; in Tangent, narrative is withheld and we are left to project one from the clues of flowers, drink, and the watchful animal image. The reflective glass table echoes the reflective floors and pools that appear in other paintings, such as his architectural scenes shown at Gallery Victor, where reflection becomes a visual metaphor for doubled realities or interior states.
Within Hrehov’s career, Tangent belongs to a mature phase in which this allegorical language has become very refined. His own site notes that the painting received the Helen V. Surowek Memorial Award at the South Shore Arts 82nd Annual Salon Show in Munster, Indiana, marking it out as a distinguished recent work.
That recognition comes on top of more than thirty years of exhibiting, teaching, and developing this mode of allegorical realism, a trajectory described in a 2021 survey of his work.
Read this way, Tangent is not just a stylish interior but a concise statement of Hrehov’s larger project: to take the quiet, ordinary furnishings of life and arrange them so precisely that they begin to feel like emblems of memory, longing, and spiritual unease. The piece is floated in a white frame measuring 26h x 22w x 2.25d inches.
John Hrehov
Tangent
oil on panel
24h x 20w in
60.96h x 50.80w cm
FRAMED DIMENSIONS
26h x 22w x 2.25d in
66.04h x 55.88w x 5.71d cm
JHR027
John Hrehov
Education
1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Solo Exhibitions
2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN.
2012 Shades from White to Black, New Drawings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2011 John Hrehov: Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne.
2009 John Hrehov: A Survey 1999-2009 Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Paintings and Drawings. Seerveld Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL.
2004 John Hrehov: Drawings and Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2002 Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2001 Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne.
John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2000 The Picture Proper. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Fearful Symmetry. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
Allegories in Contemporary Life. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY.
1999 Paintings and Working Drawings. Adams Hall Gallery, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.
1998 John Hrehov. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
John Hrehov: Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL.
1997 Object Lesson, Paintings, and Drawings by John Hrehov. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY.
1995 John Hrehov. Trinity Art Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL.
1993 John Hrehov: Selected Works 1980-1992 Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Group Exhibitions
2019 2019 Alumni Exhibition. Reinberger Gallery at The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Out Of The Closet. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
1026 West Berry Street: The Fort Wayne Art School. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
2018 Artlink Regional Exhibition. Artlink Contemporary Art Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN.
2017 Sola Grace-Faith-Scripture: An Exhibition of Sacred Visual Art. Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological
Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.
Norman Bradley and Friends. Crestwoods Gallery, Roanoke, IN.
2014 Solos Revisited II. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Regional Impact: Faculty Work from the IU Regional Campuses. Room 112 Art Gallery, Richmond, IN.
2013 Summer Selections. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2011 Faculty Exhibition. Indiana University - Purdue Univ. Fort Wayne Visual Arts Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN.
2010 Contemporary Realism Biennial. National Juried Exhibition, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
2008 Contemporary Am. Realism: 2008 Biennial. Juried Exhibition, Ft Wayne Museum of Art, Ft Wayne, IN.
Summer Selections. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Winter Salon. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2007 The Exquisite Snake. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
2005 The Art of the Bookplate. A 25th Anniversary show for Printworks gallery, Chicago, IL.
Views of Nature: Landscapes from the Permanent Collection. Ft Wayne Museum of Art, Ft Wayne, IN.
2004 Summer Group Exhibition. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
179th Annual: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art. Natl Academy of Design, NY, NY.
2003 The Exquisite Snake. Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Invitational Exhibition. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
New York Collection 2002. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo, NY.
Through a Glass Darkly. First Presbyterian Church Gallery, First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, IN.
2002 The Broome Street Gallery Holiday Invitational Exhibition. Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY.
Invitational Exhibition: Gallery & Guest Artists. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2001 Invitational Exhibition. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2000 New York Collection 2000. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo, NY.
Gallery Artists. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL.
New York Collections 1999. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo, NY.
Drawn Together: Annual Exhibition of Alumni Art. Reinberber Gallery, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Gallery Sampler. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
1999 Graphite. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL.
New York Collections 1998. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo, NY.
1998 Small Packages. Wood Street Gallery Chicago, IL.
1997 Group Invitational. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Drawn Together: Annual Exhibition of Alumni Art. Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Nathan Taves and John Hrehov Art Exhibit. Robert Wilson Gallery, Huntington College, Huntington, IN.
1996 Regional Artists' Biennial. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
1995 The American States Art Competition. American States Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, IN.
The First All-Campus Fine Arts Faculty Arts Exhibition from Indiana University. Indiana University Art Museum,
Bloomington, IN.
1994 Multi Perspectives II. National Exhibition, An Art Place Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Natural Wonders. Mabee Gallery, Culver-Stockton College, Canton, MO.
1993 The American States Art Competition. American States Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, IN.
1992 IN/Form IV. Lemp Gallery, St. Louis, MO.
The Indiana Arts Competition. American States Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, IN
167th Annual Exhibition. National Academy of Design, New York, NY.
1991 Mid States Art Exhibition 44th Annual Competition. Evansville Museum of Arts & Science, Evansville, IN.
Fort Wayne Collects. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
The Indiana Arts Competition. The American States Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, IN.
1990 Partners and Proteges. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY.
1987 CIVA Juried Art Exhibition. Foundry Gallery Washington, DC.
1988 John Hrehov/Timothy Vermeulen. Fine Art Gallery, Judson College, Elgin, IL.
1985 62nd Annual Faculty Exhibition. Krannert Museum of Art, Champaign, IL.
Awards and Honors
2012 Featured Faculty Award. IPFW, Fort Wayne, IN.
2003 Excellence in Creative Endeavor & Research Award. IPFW School of Visual and Performing Arts, Fort Wayne, IN.
1996 United Art & Education Supply Award, Regional Artists' Biennial. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
1993 Best of Show, The American States Arts Competition. Indianapolis, IN. Juror: Susanne Ghez, Director The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.
1992 Gladys Emerson Cook Prize In the Area of Prints, Drawings, and Pastels. 167th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY.
1991 Thieme Incentive Award for Summer Research and Study. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
1991 Award, 3rd place in Prints, Drawing, Mixed Media; The Indiana Arts Competition. American States Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, IN.
1985 Critic's Recognition Award. Donald B. Kuspit, Juror, MFA Exhibition, Krannert Museum of Art, Champaign, IL.
1980 Eastman-Bolton Memorial Award. Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Public Collections
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, IN.
Central Insurance Companies, Van Wert, OH.
Denise Bibro Fine Art Inc., New York, NY.
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN.
Lincoln National Corporation, Fort Wayne, IN.
Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, Fort Wayne, IN.
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Union University, Jackson, TN.
- Creator:
- Creation Year:2025
- Dimensions:Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:Seller: JHR0271stDibs: LU554317233452
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The artist is a master at storytelling. He sets the stage for the viewer to bring the events to a particular scene. Here, the artist has set two wine glasses, napkins and a small plate of desserts on a geometrically patterned table cloth, draping so it almost appears to be falling over the frame. The viewer is required to ask the questions about the scene but the answers may only lie in their own imagination. The painting, which is painted on canvas then mounted to a panel, is framed in a simple wooden frame measuring 21 x 30 inches.
John Hrehov
Dessert, 2022
oil on canvas on panel
20h x 29w in
50.80h x 73.66w cm
JHR008
John Hrehov
Education
1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Solo Exhibitions
2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN.
2012 Shades from White to Black, New Drawings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
2011 John Hrehov: Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne.
2009 John Hrehov: A Survey 1999-2009 Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Paintings and Drawings. Seerveld Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL.
2004 John Hrehov: Drawings and Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
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2000 The Picture Proper. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
Fearful Symmetry. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
Allegories in Contemporary Life. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY.
1999 Paintings and Working Drawings. Adams Hall Gallery, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.
1998 John Hrehov. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY.
John Hrehov: Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL.
1997 Object Lesson, Paintings, and Drawings by John Hrehov. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY.
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1026 West Berry Street: The Fort Wayne Art School. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN.
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JHR022
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