Yale Factor is one artist who tests our perceptions of reality and illusion. His work has been shown in regional, national and international juried exhibitions, as well as in one-person exhibitions in museums across the nation. Factor is a Professor Emeritus of Art at Northern Illinois University. Prior to taking the teaching position at NIU Yale Factor was a scientific illustrator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

This retrospective show spans a period of over forty years of creating art that includes early photorealistic drawings of Chicago and the critically acclaimed series of portraits. There are two groups of paintings, the first is of landscapes with a global range of southern France to islands in the Caribbean as well as the United States, California to Key West. The second group is narrative still-life, which originally incorporated maps as the backdrops key to meaning of the composition. These paintings later morphed into a more Renaissance influenced candle lit scenes rendered in the trompe l’oeil technique.

Growing up in Chicago the big influences in his career have been the paintings in the Art Institute and the collections of the Field Museum. Painting with oil paints from the age of twelve, technique has never been a concern, it was always in search of the subject-matter which best represented his personality and how it fit into the larger field of fine art.

Always progressing forwards the primary effort is now divided between the narrative still-lifes and the landscapes. Each being equal in importance, while the idea for the still-life is developing the landscapes moves to the forefront.