GALLERY HOSTS ANNIVERSARY PREVIEW EVENT WITH SPECIAL GUEST, FRED TIEKEN
Phoenix Obliq Art Gallery Hosts First Friday’s Event for the 25th Anniversary of Art Detour

Downtown Phoenix’s Obliq Art gallery will honor the upcoming Artlink Phoenix’s 25th Anniversary of Art Detour with a special gallery showing of acclaimed contemporary artist Fred Tieken. Tieken, along with the paintings of Richard and Michele Bledsoe, will be at the Arizona Center art gallery from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. on Friday, February 1, 2013.

Tieken’s original painting titled, “The Artist,” has been chosen as the official visual of Art Detour 25 (see it here!), and will be on display at Obliq Art during the February 1 event. This special First Friday showing of Tieken’s award-winning works will offer a preview to the upcoming 25th Annual Art Detour on March 2-3, 2013. Husband and wife artists Richard and Michele Bledsoe, along with the music of Kimberly Steele will also take part in the celebratory evening of local art.

Larry Ortega, owner of Obliq Art at the Arizona Center, whom also serves as the center’s commercial real estate broker said, “We are delighted to have Fred Tieken show at our downtown Phoenix gallery. Obliq is honored to serve the local community with outstanding art and artists such as Tieken and the
Bledsoes.”

Committed to the downtown community, Arizona Center is actively catering to the local business and art scene with unique shops and venues such as the gallery. Obliq, the contemporary urban “pop up” gallery space, promotes Arizona and Phoenix artists and connects local art with the emerging art scene of
downtown. With Tieken’s works and “Changing Lanes,” the art of husband and wife team Richard and Michele Bledsoe, the event showing at the Arizona Center for February’s First Friday offers a unique opportunity to Valley art lovers to meet the artists personally during their exhibit event.

The historic 25-year Art Detour celebration will look back at the history of the art scene in downtown. The celebration will kick off with an opening Silver Gala on Saturday, February 23 at the A.E. England Building in Downtown’s Civic Space Park. The Art Detour weekend (March 2-3) will feature a broad array of open studios and galleries, Kids’ Detour activities, and free trolleys.

Fred Tieken and “Changing Lanes” by Richard and Michele Bledsoe are free and open to the public on February 1, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Obliq Art in Arizona Center, 455 N. Third Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

More About Arizona Center:
Arizona Center is owned by CommonWealth REIT, a real estate investment trust, or REIT, which primarily owns office and industrial properties located throughout the United States. The property is managed by Reit Management & Research LLC, Real Estate Services. For more information about Arizona Center, visit www.arizonacenter.com. For leasing inquiries, contact Larry Ortega at 602-222-5019.

About Fred Tieken:
Before he first put brush to canvas, Fred Tieken had enjoyed successful careers as both a musician and graphic designer.

For more than 30 years, he was principal designer and creative director of his internationally recognized graphic design firm. During that time he received over 200 design awards and, in 1999, he was named one of the top 50 art directors in the world by Art Direction magazine. Prior to his career in design, Fred
was a prolific musician and producer, releasing numerous albums and singles that are still in demand by collectors. His music has been featured on compilation albums, both in the United States and Europe.

Fred’s abstract contemporary and figurative paintings have received critical acclaim and enthusiastic coverage from the media. His paintings come from the heart and tell the story of his life experience.

Fred created his first public work of art in March 2012, when he was commissioned to create the art for a 126-foot-long mural located two blocks west of Phoenix Art Museum at Third Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix, Arizona. Since 2010, Fred’s paintings have been featured in more than twenty juried
exhibitions and one-man shows in Arizona and California. For more information about Fred Tieken, visit www.freddietieken.com.

About Richard Bledsoe:
A painter of parables and fables, Richard Bledsoe’s original art pursues a spiritual energy represented as patterns, animals or figures of power. Images presented as flashes or inspiration, complete a visualization for each of the artist’s work.

About Michele Bledsoe:
As a self-taught artist, Michele Bledsoe illustrates her own private symbolism cultivated in isolation, allowing her to spontaneously develop her own vision. Bledsoe’s work is the result of a lifetime love of creating pictures, and intimately works every inch of the canvas with small, exact strokes, layering colors
and incorporating texture, wood grain, crumbling stone, twisting ribbon and curling leaves.

For more information and the works of Richard and Michele Bledsoe, visit www.remodernamerica.com.