The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host an exhibit featuring the work of Ricky Sikes, the representational painter and artist-in-residence at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The exhibit, “Internal Landscapes,” will be on display from Oct. 12 to Nov. 15 in the Small Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design at UA Little Rock. The virtual exhibit will also be available on the UA Little Rock Art Gallery website.

The exhibit explores the eerie, peaceful, chaotic, and sometimes intimidating nature of the dense forests of Sikes’ home in Louisiana and other regions of the Deep South.

“The complex reality of forests inspires him,” said Brad Cushman, director of the UA Little Rock Art Gallery. “His paintings echo his internal state of mind when he is immersed in a tangle of vines and a dense canopy of trees.”

As a child, Sikes spent much time in the woods experiencing the “wonder of adventure and exploration for the first time.” His fondness for the forest has grown with adulthood, and he expresses that emotional attachment in “Internal Landscapes.”

“Using oil paint and mixed media, my goal is to capture the special and highly complex reality of the forest in a personal style, which reflects my innate experiences,” Sikes said. “All of the complexity, mood, contrasts, and mark making catalyze to echo the unique internal state I experience when immersed in the tangled vines and dense canopy of the forest.”

Sikes is a practicing artist and educator based in Little Rock. As a mixed media artist and painter, he works in many genres, including portraiture, figure painting, and science-fiction illustration.

He earned a Master of Fine Art degree in studio art from Louisiana Tech University, and he received his Bachelor of Fine Art degree specializing in illustration at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

Anyone who would like to visit the UA Little Rock Art Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design in person may contact Cushman at 501-916-3182 or becushman@ualr.edu. Appointments are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.