Part 2 of Elisa Gomez’s “Tour To Terrain“
Elisa makes her way to Telluride, CO where she begins painting on mountainsides. With the pressures of conventional life now removed from her daily existence she feels her work evolving:
“I am seeing the movement and gestures in my work become more free and aggressive looking (not aggressive angry but aggressive in the speed and application). I am arriving at moments of depth in a more naturally progressive way.”
Chris Lopez is a multimedia artist who creates lyrical compositions exploring dramatic lighting and its manipulation of the male form. His compositions, frequently labeled “erotic,” are portrayals of his personal concepts of beauty.
This post introduces a special series titled, “Tour to Terrain,” following abstract-expressionist artist, Elisa Gomez, as she makes her way from Texas to California. Elisa will be participating in The Midway Gallery’s fall exhibition, Terrain, a meditation on the outdoors (Sept. 10 – Oct. 22, 2016). She will be creating several pieces inspired by the American west while on her months long road-trip. Elisa’s large-scale paintings will be exhibited in Terrain, alongside items documenting her process.
“My approach is not really to be erotic in any way, it’s more about studying the human figure and expressing it. [. . .] I’m looking at the grand age of dramatic, figurative art and I want to explore that in my own in a modern sense.”
Friday night (July 15) The Midway Gallery hosted an eclectic mix of art lovers present to witness the culmination of two distinctly fantastic shows: LIVEWIRE and This Swarthy Face. Neighbors within the The Midway Complex, the two exhibitions present the hard work of three curators and 12 artists.
Working out of Studios 11 in Oakland’s Ironworks district, Terry Furry (pronounced like the english word “fury”), creates beautiful, graphic-realism oil paintings featuring faces, body parts, mythological gods, and the occasional random object.
His figurative paintings are composed of tightly placed sections of saturated pigment deliberately left unblended. By neighboring areas of distinct color Terry’s portraits look like flesh-toned oil spills, or, as he aptly puts it, “topographical.” These puddles of color sensuously map the contours of the human body, emphasizing light and shadow.
Eddie Colla’s defiant characters can be found spray-painted along the streets of urban spaces overwhelmed by consumer signage. His art interrupts the redundancy of advertisements by offering viewers a refreshing moment to reflect on the space they inhabit. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post and the Chicago Tribune.
Looking at Karl Fjelstrom’s realistic oil paintings is like flipping through a stranger’s intimate photos: each image offers a hint of a story, a glimpse into someone else’s life.
Tucked under the MacArthur maze in the outskirts of Oakland is a neon tube bending wonderland run by Bay Area native, Shawna Peterson. Inside, the tiny store front opens into a large alcove stacked floor to ceiling with glass tubes, recycled signs, and electrical materials. In one corner rests a vintage pinball machine featuring a robot overlord by the name of Magnotron. Glancing around I absent-mindedly comment on how warm it is inside, to which Shawna replies…
Bay area artist, Kristin Farr creates fluorescent not-to-be ignored op art compositions inspired by traditional Pennsylvania-Dutch folk art. Farr has a way of endowing her fragmented, diamond-like shapes with sentiments of humor and nostalgia. These endearing geometric compositions intend to spread good vibes and offer a moment of respite in a world that may otherwise be a tad overwhelming. Farr’s unique style has become a part of San Francisco’s urban environment with large murals on Market St, and at an elementary school parking lot in Potrero Hill.
