RIDDLE WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY: In 2021, Purdue Fort Wayne art professor John Hrehov was the recipient of the Recharge New Surrealist Prize, presented by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Surrealist is a new label for Hrehov. Such labels have come and gone over the years. His pieces are deliciously ungraspable, even when so many of their elements are instantly recognizable. There is something going on in his pieces, something that is hard to get a handle on. Sometimes it’s something comical. Sometimes it’s something ominous. Sometimes it’s both at the same time. “I like that ambiguity,” Hrehov said. “I like the whole idea of the enigma, something that is enigmatic. You just can’t describe it. You just can’t explain it. Even though everything is there, it’s kind of there for you to put together. But it still remains somewhat unfathomable.” johnhrehov.com