Salem State University’s Center for Creative & Performing Arts will present a major 30-year retrospective of works by Ken Reker. The show, ASH/ Ken Reker/ Selected Works 1992 – 2022, at Salem Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, Ma. showcases Reker’s considerable artistic output as seen through an introspective 30-year lens.

Using an accumulation of artworks that include drawing, collage, sculpture, public art and a collection of found objects, Reker examines the creative process in an installation at Salem Old Town. Reker says, “This exhibition is not a traditional retrospective as such, but operates as a new and unique curatorial opportunity.” Utilizing both past and current work as “raw material”, Reker curates a body of work that coaxes new forms and establishes unexpected relationships in the process. The nature of his artistic process lies within the genre of assemblage. Assemblage is art that is made by organizing disparate elements, often everyday objects and found materials that are scavenged by the artist.

Recently, Reker’s work was selected to appear in THE INVISIBLE COSTS OF WAR, an exhibition at the ARC Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. His work was selected by Adrienne Kochman, PhD., Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago. Reker’s work was one of 91 works displayed from a submission of over 350 pieces meant to illustrate the social horror of Russia’s recent military action against Ukraine.