“These are all realistic objects, recognizable objects and I try to arrange them so that it creates an abstraction as well,” says Robert Stickloon about one of his works, “Big Squirt” (2024; oil on canvas, 46 in. x 46 in.).

“I’m walking through a thrift shop and I see all these squirt pistols,” Stickloon says of the inspiration for the painting.

Stickloon likes to work with the transparency and translucency of overlapping brightly-colored, glass-like plastic, similar to what he does with his other paintings featuring glassware.

One of these oils is “Pickles & Peppers,” which hyper-realistically depicts red peppers and green serrated pickle slices in adjacent Atlas Mason jars.

Stickloon says the painting was displayed on loan for three years in the United States Embassy in Moldova at the request of the Pennsylvania-born ambassador. Stickloon was relieved that the painting had not become a casualty of the war in Ukraine. Russian troops passed through Moldova to invade Ukraine.

“His execution and style are impeccable,” says James DePietro, who curated Stickloon’s exhibition, “Contemporary Still Life Paintings,” which concluded Sept. 24, Rotunda Gallery, City Hall, Bethlehem. “It’s really a different approach that most people don’t get to see,” DePietro says of Stickloon’s paintings’ “pop art qualities.”

“I was like the kid with the most paintings and drawings in the art exhibits since kindergarten,” says Stickloon, who retired from teaching drawing and painting at the Penn State University Schuylkill Campus after 35 years. He received a B.S. and M.Ed in art education from Kutztown University and an M.F.A. from Idaho State University.

DePietro and Stickloon, former Kutztown University classmates, reconnected a few years ago at the “Art of the State” exhibit in Harrisburg where both had works accepted for display.

Stickloon works out of his art studio in his hometown of Pottsville.

The Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission sponsored the Rotunda exhibition.

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com