Category: Art Stories

This year as Ringelstetter packed up and prepared to head south on the very same day he left for Florida last year he found himself reminiscing over his last trip. The night before his departure in 2021 he hardly slept a wink, too concerned about the months to come and based on his performance so far that year, he didn’t have a lot of hope left. He knew it was going to be a rough journey but he also knew it was one he had to undertake. He was prepared to figure it out and make things work no matter what it took, so he buckled down and made the trek south with his comrade, Jared Breyfogle.

 

The duo’s first stop was the River Fine Arts Gallery, where Jordan River, long time friend of Ringelstetter, was letting them stay until they found a rental for the season. Had they known how quickly things were going to change there they might’ve locked in a place right away but before they were ready to commit prices quickly doubled due to the influx of renters. People were flooding to the state and rates everywhere were skyrocketing. The artist’s shows weren’t going well and they ended up staying at JD River’s for two months. Ringelstetter is eternally grateful to River for hosting them for so long, due to his kindness they were able to keep going.

 

Ringelstetter crossed paths with another old friend while down south. Carla Bank, another fellow artist, hadn’t seen Ringelstetter since his “Pink Hair Magick Tour” and it seemed like she was meeting a totally different person due to the differences in his energy. She took Ringelstetter under her wing, and she shared some of her business secrets as well as some social media tips. Thanks to her Ringelstetter has a whole new structure to how he approaches Instagram. Andrew Libecki was another artist individual to align with Ringelstetter at a show and he was able to help him with his mindset while giving him the strength and motivation to keep going.

 

After leaving the River Fine Art Gallery the boys moved on to Matthew and Bree Parish’s residence, where they exchanged labor for boarding. They spent a lot of time helping with the yard work and it was at those times that Ringelstetter felt the most relaxed. Some of his best times from last year’s Florida tour were while he was doing yard work at the Parish’s. Ringelstetter also made time to revisit the Trent Art Gallery where he was exposed to a new route for the printing process. The experience really encouraged him to print his work on paper rather than canvas. He really appreciates the Trent’s for sharing this technique because it’s done wonders for his business model.

 

This trip was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends, but it was not without its drawbacks. Ringelstetter spent a total of four months without a place to call home and it was rough on him, but through it all he found a way to reconnect with himself too. After months of disappointment and fruitless efforts Ringelstetter finally made some time for himself and went back to Coconut beach where he was able to really tap back into his muses, relax, and set better intentions for his life. Ever since the moment when he made the choice to step back onto his path things have been going extremely well for him.

 

When it was time for the Coconut Grove Art Show, Ringelstetter was ready to release his new style of metallic-flaked, glitter-infused epoxy resin finishes. This process was really intimidating at first as it involved pouring the resin finish over his originals and it felt like hit or miss  But when showtime came he was pumped. He believed in himself once more and he was excited to connect with the attendees. He had a lot of really wonderful interactions but he kept running into the same issue over and over again; the pieces were too big to fit the client’s walls. In one case, after the show,  he actually drove a piece to someone’s house and it ended up being a foot too long for their wall so they couldn’t make the purchase. It was unfortunate, but Ringelstetter’s new work was so well received otherwise it didn’t matter. He knew which direction to go in and he knew how to size down.

 

But the directions on what steps to take next wouldn’t stop there. When the artists arrived back in Wisconsin for the northern part of their tour Ringelstetter was met with more high regard for his work as well as the opportunity to connect with a whole new breed of people. This inspired Ringelstetter to learn new ways of communication and to really take a look at how he interacts with his clientele. This time around the artist knows what he’s doing. He has his living situation locked in, he’s got his studio space ready, and he’s feeling much better about life in general. He’s excited for all of the new opportunities coming his way and he’s manifesting better things for the 2022 – 2023 tour.

Darienne Keniece

St Charles,

In 2016 Ringelstetter revealed his skateboard line to the public for the first time in St. Charles, Illinois. He had heard a lot of good things about this particular event and he was curious. The show always takes place on the third weekend in May, which is a bold move in the Midwest as the temperatures around that time of year could be anywhere from 20 degrees to 80 degrees, so Ringelstetter was interested to see what kind of crowd this event would attract. Once he finds a show he generally sticks with it for three years if he can to really give it a chance, but by his third year in St. Charles Ringelstetter barely managed to break even and decided he wouldn’t be returning for a fourth year.

However, when the fourth year came around and the show hosts began reaching out, Ringelstetter was contacted by close friends, the Livermore’s, who offered to pull some strings to get him the best spot in the show as well as a place to stay if he promised to attend the St Charles show. He couldn’t turn down the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and decided to accept the offer, knowing that even if he didn’t do well at the show he would still enjoy the company. And it’s a good thing he jumped at that chance as he went on to do exceedingly well that year, and every year since. This experience has really shown him that sometimes you have to trust the process. He’s not sure he would have been able to succeed if it wasn’t for the relationships he’s built in the St. Charles community over the years.

In 2022 Ringelstetter was the ‘poster boy’ for the St. Charles, Illinois art show. His face and his artwork was all over the website, event fliers, and promos everywhere. “It’s such a strange twist of events, going from losing money at a show to being used as their marketing face less than ten years later.” Ringelstetter commented on the recent development. He plans to return to the show in 2023 and he’s excited to reconnect with all of the familiar faces.

Darienne Keniece

Ringelstetter and Breyfogle spent eight weeks in Florida preparing for their tour. They went back to Wisconsin to readjust over the holidays before heading back down south to kick off their tour lineup. The first show they attended was one of the biggest on their list and they would be showcasing both Ringelstetter’s and Breyfogle’s art. Ringelstetter had participated in this event and done well in the past so the bizarre events that followed were quite the surprise. There were tons of people in attendance but few of them were actually walking into any of the artist’s booths. Atomic7 had approximately ten visitors all day, and it seemed as though the other attendees were doing no better. The second day of the show was canceled due to severe weather but our artists persevered through their frustration and got themselves ready for their next venue.

They were signed up for a boat show that would feature street vendors of all kinds and was sponsored by all of the big names in the industry, according to the event’s social accounts. This was the first time the artists had used their double booth set up to showcase both of their artwork, and they were ready to go. The food trucks had arrived shortly before lunch and it seemed as though everything was set in place, except for one missing thing…

There were no boats. After quite some time of waiting for a crowd, Ringelstetter found the promoters but received vague feedback and so he returned to the booth to stick out the show with Breyfogel, but no one ever came. By Saturday, many of the attendees were growing frustrated, especially the food truck owners who were guaranteed ten thousand people and now were each sitting on enough perishable goods to feed at least five thousand show-goers. They tried to speak with the promoter but it wasn’t long before these conversations turned into heated arguments and law enforcement was called in. The promoter told the truck owners that they could get their money back but they would have to take him to court and the officials gave out the information to do so before escorting the enraged truck owners out of the show.

Outside of this, the promoter had been going around the show all day exclaiming that “the boats are coming!” Almost hourly he would come through with his vapid reassurance, eventually leaving our artists wondering if this man was a lunatic. By midafternoon, the weather reports were forecasting severe storms and Ringelstetter, who had been following the event on social media, noticed that they were pulling down complaint comments from attendees saying they had prepaid for their tickets and were extremely unhappy with the turn out of the show. One of the vendors had called a big name sponsor on the flier for this event and was told that the company knew nothing about it.

At this point Atomic7 decided to pack up. They were one of three remaining booths and as they were loading up the van they were approached by a woman affiliated with the event. She apologized profusely, stating that this promoter had been one of the worst she’d ever worked with as he was unable to hold up his side of the event. She said she only had enough money to afford to pay three vendors back and since they waited out the show she would reimburse Atomic7. The artists accepted the offer and drove to Naples to get settled in for the next few months. They felt defeated, but are still optimistic that the future holds endless opportunities.

Darienne Keniece

Ringelstetter has begun a new line of work called the “Reflection Series”. The first piece is called “A Reflection of Self-Worth” and is a message to look deeply into our inner worlds and align with the true self. In these pieces there’s always an orb, it may reveal itself as a pinball or a chrome plated ball bearing, but this focal point is a way to see yourself in orb form; a being of pure light and energy. These pieces are a way to look at the energetic reality of life and the serene colors are meant to remind the viewer of the cosmos and heavens.

Each piece in this series is inspired by the “Embrace” painting from Ringelstetter’s earlier work because he recognizes that concept as a fork in his path. In “A Reflection of Self-Worth” the little blue elephant hops into the portal and transforms into an orb of pure energy, stepping into alignment with the universe. This signifies Ringelstetter’s return to the downstream flow of life. He’s taking this time to reflect on his past creations and bring some of them into the future with a clearer vision, attained from a higher state of consciousness after a long journey. He is quoted saying, “I’ve heard that I should make beautiful art and after having the world crushing my soul over and over I finally decided to start doing it.” This series is proof that beauty grows beneath the wreckage.

Darienne Keniece

When 2021 began Ringelstetter, like many others, hoped it would mark the end of a terrible year. The pandemic had an effect on more than just the health of our country, as many know, it also greatly changed our economy especially for small business owners. The debt accumulated to keep Atomic7 going was becoming crippling, but Ringelstetter was hopeful for a turnaround in 2021. He made it through about half of the year before things started to go sideways again.

By the time he and co-artist Jared Breyfogle made it down to Florida for the start of their winter tour they knew their fate was on the line. They were high in hopes but once the shows started up they could see that things weren’t going to go as expected.

There were a lot of hiccups with the show coordinations. All six of the shows Breyfogle was scheduled for were either falsely promoted or the addresses were given incorrectly, making for a cranky crowd of attendees. Most of them didn’t take to Breyfogle’s work which added a lot of mental stress to both artists, leaving them both questioning their efforts.

However, as the first leg of their tour was focused on Breyfogle’s work, this gave Ringelstetter the opportunity to get out of the booth and explore the shows, which he had never been able to do in the past. He was able to see what other artists were doing and more importantly, to see what was working for them. It became clear that the market was calling for bigger pieces than what they had available so by the third show they revamped Breyfogle’s entire booth and instantly changed his feedback ratings from 95% negative to a solid 95% positive.

This experience has caused them to grow professionally and it has given them a new mindset. They’re ready for the second leg of their tour and they have their living situation covered for the next three months but the pressure is on. If they don’t succeed the studio will likely go bankrupt and they may have to trade in their paint brushes for factory gloves. This particular blog is important to Ringelstetter because he wants people to understand why he’s completely dropped off the map. In the last few months he’s had to completely restructure his belief system about the world of art and he and Breyfoggle have had to adapt to survive. They’re living in survival mode right now but they’re still learning to grow. Every day there is a new opportunity in Florida and they have high hopes of making something happen soon. They have their sights set ahead and they’re doing their best to put their doubts and worries out of their minds, staying focused on their missions and trusting in their talents.

Darienne Keniece

When Ringelstetter was live painting at the Trent Art Gallery back in 2019 he crossed paths with a lot of interesting people affiliated with big industries. The gallery was placed next to a highly rated restaurant that brought in wealthy traffic who often stopped by to check out the art and watch Ringelstetter paint after their dinner. One evening a group of women came in to see the Forbidden Effect and one of them started asking some very specific questions, expressing a lot of interest in the project and the components of its creation. After a while one of her friends told her to come clean about who she was and she introduced herself as Jody Keller, Director of Universal Studios.

She went on to tell Ringelstetter that she had never seen anything like his work and she would love to find a way to utilize his skill and the Forbidden Effect with her company, but she couldn’t think of a way to integrate him even though she felt what he was doing was way beyond anything she had ever seen. Some people may find this discouraging but it gave our artist peace. If the director of Universal Studios couldn’t find a way to encompass his abilities it seemed like a good sign that he was on the right path by doing his own thing with Atomic7. Now his focus is on further establishing himself and his business so that he’s ready when the right opportunity comes knocking on his door.

Darienne Keniece

The Fusion Line started with a dream. In the dream Ringlestetter was (unknowingly) in a simulation that warped his reality into a bleak, new world order where the elderly were being sent into the earth’s core for destruction. When this unsettling scene ended his headset was removed and it became clear that he had been in a “Create Your Own Adventure” style of virtual reality movie where he was able to pick the cast and which characters he wanted to follow throughout the storyline.

An intense vision alone, this would have been enough for one night. But as Ringlestetter was returning to his conscious state, he was given another download of inspiration when he glimpsed a creation that sent him down a new creative path. As he was rousing, he saw a piece of artwork that resembled what he’s making today with his new “Fusion Line”. This is a combination of all of his past career ventures put together with three separate tiers of creation that flow together as one piece. Ringelstetter was able to access this effect through the process of destruction and recreation of resin molds.

Without this series of dreams, who knows where Ringelstetter would be focusing his creativity at this time. He’s thankful that his guides are always looking out for him to make sure his well of vast imagination never runs dry and is incredibly excited to be releasing another line. The possibilities truly are endless when you open yourself up to other realms of existence.

Darienne Keniece

Advertised as the country’s best and biggest art show, the Ann Arbor Art show has given Ringelstetter the go around many times in the past. With 1,500 artists coming in from all over the country, it can be an overwhelming experience for both patron and supplier. The four day stride of the show can really take a toll on the artists with the showtimes stretching from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.. The last time Ringelstetter made an appearance at this venue in 2019 there was a wicked storm that led to the blog “Ann Arbor Horrors”, and he vowed he would never go back.

However, this was the show he won his second National award at and with the events we all experienced in 2020 he decided to give this show a second chance. Much to his surprise it turned out to be one of his best shows ever with a final payout of $20,000 that has now set him up for the rest of the year and given him the opportunity to forgo his winter tour in Florida so that he can help his budding apprentice kickstart his career as a touring artist while he paints originals live on the street. This was a surprising turn of events for both artists, but they’re thrilled with the new direction their careers are heading, and it’s all thanks to the Ann Arbor show and it’s wonderful buyers. It just goes to show that life can switch things up at any moment when you keep yourself open to possibility.

Darienne Keniece

In the last few months it has been brought to Ringelstetter’s attention that the art community has experienced some major changes. Creatives are flocking to the Dakotas and southern states like Texas and Florida because states known for the arts, like New York and California, have shut everything down, making it next to impossible to make a living as an artist there, similar to what Ringelstetter has been experiencing in Wisconsin. Show after show had been cancelled or rolled back and he was feeling defeated. Winter was setting in and starting to wear heavily on the psyche, and Ringelstetter was dreaming of warmer days filled with beaches and painting when his approval for the Tallahassee show came through and, much to his surprise, shortly after he received a notice about qualification for a PPP that could help him get there.

He submitted his application and waited patiently for weeks until he received another email alerting him that he had only one more week to meet to submit his application. Having already done this, he placed a call to find that somehow his application had slipped through the cracks and while they had his app in hand, it had not been properly submitted yet. One might typically find this frustrating, had the terms of the PPP not changed the day before, now granting Ringelstetter three times his initial benefit. Blown away by these circumstances but eternally grateful, the artist started making plans to head south and get his art back on the map.

Through his connections he was able to set up a show at the Monster Factory where they brought in a DJ and set up a tiki bar to welcome him back. While he was there he got to see first hand just how much things had changed for the art world. With so many business types flocking to Miami the art community is relocating to Saint Petersburg, (i.e., millionaires are being pushed out by billionaires) creating a brand new avenue of opportunities for artists of all kinds. But of course, a move this big comes with it’s own challenges and learning experiences for the working artist. Ringelstetter was quoted saying, “Everything I know about the art hustle has flip-flopped- it’s a whole new game out here.”

The Midwest used to be a hotspot for art but with the state of things life as we know it in the art world is changing. It’s an interesting time to be alive, and if you’re a creative our hearts go out to you. We know that this time has altered a lot, but it won’t kill the industry – we must simply adapt and evolve with the times and through the right lens, it looks like the world could be tipping in our favor.

Darienne Keniece

As of January 7, 2021 Ringelsetter has created and destroyed three versions of resin based artwork, striving for the perfect outcome. The events of 2020 have given him the chance to demonstrate how quickly he can create and evolve a concept when given the freedoms to work.

As an artist it’s no surprise that he’s comfortable with the process of creation, destruction, and rebirth. A “god” in his own world, Ringelstetter knows the importance of following the cycle of life, allowing things to flow through their own process in order to become what they’re meant to be, even if this process requires smashing apart and melting down something you’ve put hours of your time into. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that he is detached from this process as he can feel parts of himself disintegrating along with the shapes of the molds, but he recognizes this as a chance to transcend his current limits and move into the next phase of his career and continue to explore his passions.

If 2020 has shown us anything it’s proof that you can rebuild from the rumble time and time again with enough determination and the right perspective.

Darienne Keniece