“Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.”

-Theodor Adorno 1903-1969

“Emily had this idea of giving out first chairs, then, later, small hobby horses to artists who in turn were to paint, decorate or otherwise manipulate and submit them for a showing,” recounted Strayer who has lectured Philosophy, Ethics and Aesthetics at IPFW since 2002. “The Dadaists took their name from the French word “dada,” which translates as hobby horse. So rather than just decorating the horse I devised another, two-part approach.”

Strayer first photographed the interior of the City County Building lobby from eight positions then mailed the undeveloped roll of film to an address picked randomly from the local phone book. Simultaneously he packaged the hobby horse in a plain box and sent it, also without instruction, to the mayor’s office.

“You have to remember,” Strayer continued, “this was in the ‘Unabomber’ days. But Mayor Paul Helmke just opened the package and placed the miniature horse on his credenza without much attention.”

If you want a definition of conceptual art, that’s it. Taken a step further it was a case of a Trojan horse of a different color. For Strayer the actions were a composition using elements of chance, historical reference and humor. A performance that resonates with the dictum that artistic knowledge trumps the art object itself.

The 55-year-old Strayer began his pursuit of the subject-object relationship while growing up in Warsaw. The oldest of three children (his father was an insurance agent and real estate investor, his mother a homemaker), his early readings in philosophy (especially Bertrand Russell) and art led him to earn a BFA at the University of Miami (Florida) and. later, his MFA from Chicago’s Art Institute.

To support himself Strayer embarked on a teaching career, first at Saint Francis and then onto IPFW, concentrating on Philosophy. For a measure of the depth of his studies visit his online syllabus where you will discover an intimidating outline of readings in essentialism, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of logic and aesthetics.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the home he has shared for 10 years with Angela Boerger, the well-regarded marketing and political consultant and their cat, Zeus, “the real ruler of the house,” Strayer cultivates the time and space he needs.

The artist moves easily between three separate spaces in worn leather shoes and rumpled pants. The largest space, converted from the original first-floor parlor/dining room is his working studio, replete with a drafting table and a large, specially lit table surface and assorted tools. On the second floor a small room is equipped with a computer and serves as his writing room. Across the hall is another small, book-lined enclave where I suspect most of his work goes on. Two of its walls are filled floor to 10-foot ceilings with books on art criticism; the third is laden with works on philosophy, and the fourth with a collection of scientific treatises ranging from evolution to quantum theory.

In the center of the room sits a small desk upon which rests two thick unabridged dictionaries opened as one would find them in a classroom or public library. Cradled on top of the science bookcases rests another pair of large dictionaries.

It is here where Strayer smokes his tobacco pipe and where he conjures up the content of his book manuscript due to the publisher in September. Its title: Subjects and Objects: Essentialism, Art and Abstraction (an earlier abbreviated version is contained in the above mentioned citation on Strayer’s IPFW Philosophy of Art 575: Advanced Problems in Aesthetics).

Okay, stop and take a breath. I know this is thick stuff. but it is relevant to our subject here. Maybe Keats’ lines closing his Ode On a Grecian Urn will help us with some disambiguation:

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all

“To a large extent philosophers don’t always make the best writers, Hegel and Kant for example,” advises Strayer. But that is not the case with his own work, as he has had several papers published. In addition, as a member of both the American Philosophical Association and the American Society for Aesthetics, he has presented papers at those association conventions and several other academic settings, including upcoming appointments in Milwaukee and Toronto.

As to his art, Strayer continues to produce, although less frequently with writing deadlines looming. Subtle-colored, abstract and text-driven pieces are the core of his collection. Major painters like Rothko, Mondrian, Reinhart and Newman have impacted his earlier paintings. They have been shown as part of numerous local and regional galleries and museum exhibitions.

In his most current work can be found traces of the likes of his favorite minimalists - Joseph Kosuth, Donald Judd, Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt.

“Some art is so technical and intellectual that it is like philosophy, theoretical physics or advanced mathematics,” Strayer said in response to a query about the conventional assumption that one must be an intellectual to appreciate art.

“Artists who are producing work of this kind, me included, are concerned with establishing boundaries that certain kinds of creative investigation allow. And just as theoretical physics cannot be understood without a great deal of education, the same is true of certain artworks.”

Strayer’s reoccurring theme exploring the object-subject is very evident in a series of five small saddle-stitched paper bound books variously titled Decisions, Untitled No. 5, Still Life with Fruit, Wine, Audiotape and Projections, Intentions and Portrait of An Unknown Lady. Originally published in New York in 1982, the limited-edition collection is part of several prestigious American museums. including the Metropolitan and Modern in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco Museum of Art.

These personal and sometimes confessional anecdotal slices of his life incorporate concrete poetry, 35-mm slides, typographic expressions and film negatives which give the viewer X-ray images of what the artist was up to at the time. Like ribbon-tied bundles of letters retrieved from the attic or imbedded codes launched into space via Voyager, these chapbooks have become archeological clues to their time and place.

Strayer is not a one-or even two-dimensional man. His outside activities include hiking (10-15-mile treks), food and cooking (he’s never met a cuisine he didn’t like, including black bear in a Norwegian restaurant), traveling (he gets to Europe as often as he can and would like to settle there), the cinema (he loves foreign films; Fellini is a favorite) and music, especially classical (his favorite 20th-century composers are Elliot Carter and Ralph Vaughan Williams).

Taken together Strayer’s accomplishments and interests make a classic recipe for a supreme cosmopolitan and citizen of the world.