A Man Ahead of His Time - Literally

Using a fluorescent light bulb as a brush, Ron Denka creates images on glass which are literally ahead of his time.

The slightly surreal paintings show planets, nebula, craters and sometimes there are images which are seen under normal light, and a galaxy of phosphorescent stars which shine only when the lights are off.

Mr. Denka uses a Tesla coil to create radio wave energy, puts a sheet of glass over the top, then uses the fluorescent tube to “draw” the acrylic paint across the glass surface. There is so much energy given off by the Tesla coil that as Mr. Denka demonstrates the technique, the bulb begins to glow in his hand.

This might not be what everyone has in mind when they discuss painting, but for the Fairmount artist, it has proven successful.

His start in art was inspired by an educational television show where a masterpiece was created in half an hour. “I thought to myself, I can do that, and I bought a box of acrylic paints.” The result, on paper, was “terrible,” but his thoughts turned to the Tesla coil he had built a few years before to use in a magic act. With blobs of paint on the glass and a fluorescent tube for the energy to “jump” to, the first painting was created.

When he saw the result, he recalls, “I thought this has possibilities.” From that beginning, this unusual form of art has continued to draw attention. His works are currently on display at Norstar Bank’s Camillus office.

Mr. Denka says the coil generates about a million volts of electricity but the amperage is low. When it is running, it operates “like a big transformer,” and sends out signals across the radio band. The paint is almost a reverse, with Mr. Denka putting paint on the glass surface away from the viewer. In addition to acrylics, originally used so he would not disturb neighboring apartments, the works also have phosphorescent areas which glow in the dark.

Many of his paintings appear to depict deep space, but actually come from inside his head, Mr. Denka said. Sometimes he will sketch them out on paper or on a computer before moving to the coil.

If he does not like the result, Mr. Denka said he can plop the painting in water overnight and peel the completed painting off the glass.

What he, and friends who own his works, find amazing is the times when a creation of his has turned up later in photographs taken of the galaxy or beyond. One friend sent him a Scientific American magazine which depicted a newly discovered star cluster. The illustration bore a striking resemblance to a painting Mr. Denka had created a year before.

Carl Sagan, the person who made the phrase “billions and billions” famous, has a Denka original. His works have also been displayed at the Discovery Center, and he even painted the windows for a friend’s van.

His work repairing video equipment and creating and editing videos allows the flexibility to paint when the urge or the images present themselves. Using his large stock of mixers, editors and graphics generators is a different type of creating, Mr. Denka noted.

“I want to make them (the paintings) look like a photograph,” he said. Before cameras were invented, paintings were done to depict scenes, be a realistic record of people, and Mr. Denka just sees possibilities before they have been depicted other places. “Space is so huge, I’d love to get out there and explore,” which he does with his paintings.

“Art is art, I want it to be pleasing to the eye,” he said.