Ran Ortner's majestic and powerful ocean paintings on display at F&M College

It's enough to make you seasick. But in a good way.

The ocean waves swirl and ebb and flow and rush around you. There is a breathless calm and an effervescent majesty in the paintings of Ran Ortner. You could drown in their tumultuous beauty.

Ortner is exhibiting six oil paintings at The Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin and Marshall College. These are vast works of art---a 26-1/2 foot triptych, two diptychs, and three single panel paintings--- that immerse you in the sea.

Since 2005, the Brooklyn artist has set his sights on his ocean odyssey. Before that, his work consisted of assemblages, paintings and installations that explored less literal subject matter in a minimalistic style.

When he turned his attention to the sea, he wanted to explore something that had endless potential for discovery over and over again. It has become an exhilarating adventure with each wave opening into the next, giving rise to another interpretation of the ocean.

Some might think an artist would tire of painting the same subject. After a while, all his paintings might look the same.

"They are different in the way each moment is different from the next. I find this paradox fascinating, how so many things are self-similar and instantly recognizable, yet at the same time endlessly diverse and continually in the process of becoming," says Ortner.

The quality of aliveness is what intrigues Ortner most. The ocean is a living, breathing, ever changing thing. It offers boundless opportunities for interpretation. To harness it on canvas with just paint brushes and oils gives him tremendous satisfaction.

"Painting something that is profoundly ephemeral, continually in motion, reflecting light, is something that's quite elusive. This also makes it exhilarating," says Ortner. "When one begins to observe some of these rhythms in a meaningful way, the painting can take on some of this excitement. As an artist, this can be quite thrilling because canvas and paint are relatively basic materials. It's a bit like attempting to create a rocket ship out of mud and straw."

Born in San Francisco, Ortner grew up in Alaska. He has always been drawn to danger. He raced motorcycles professionally and is an avid surfer. Amazingly, Ortner is self-taught as an artist, studying the work of the great masters. For him, the sea is challenging in the way that dance is challenging or that sports are challenging.

"It's all about rhythm. When a specific rhythm is achieved things begin to cook. If the rhythm is missed it all feels forced and awkward," he says.

In 2009, Ortner won the inaugural ArtPrize competition. Then in 2011, Ortner's 'Deep Water No. 1' was selected for Le Bernardin and was featured in the New York Times. The Dutch government commissioned 'Element No. 5' in 2013, as the visual centerpiece for the United Nations' World Water Day at the World Forum in The Hague.

Two large paintings, 'Element No.1' and 'Element No.2,' are currently on display in the lobby of 7 World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan in New York City. His exhibit at Franklin and Marshall marks his first solo exhibit.

"The sea will float you and support you, it will drown you and consume you, it explicitly and continually conveys the notion of freedom," says Ortner.