2015 Art Syposium

This years Art Symposium's topic is the Art of the 60's and 70's in Northern California. California in these time periods greatly influenced the art of the time especially with the nation's involvement in world affairs as well as affairs within our own land.

The Art Symposium's opening key note speaker was Micheal Schwager, who felt the art of 50's should also be included in this symposium. Micheal Schwager talked about many pieces of art that he felt were very influencial to California at the time, especially focusing on art in the 50's. Some of the art work mentioned are as follows:

Micheal Schwager, Dont Hide the Madness: Bay Area Art in the 50's and 60's

• "Hurray for Peace, My Way!" (1950) oil on wood
• "Peace Flag" (1953) by Wally Hedrick oil on canvas
• "Christmas Tree" (1953) - Idea of funk style
• "Spider Lady" (1957-1959) by Bruce Conner, film
• "Song of Innocence" (1957) by Jay DeFeo, oil on canvas
• "Brambles" (1957) by Joan Brown, oil on canvas
• "ETYA" (1958) by Sonia Gettoff, oil on canvas
• "Child" (1959 - 1960) by Bruce Conner, inspired by capital punishment issues
• David Park, founder of Bay art.
• "Coffee" (1956) by Richard Diebenkorn, oil on canvas
• "Man Walking" (1958) by Nathan Oliveria, oil on canvas
• "Figure in Landscape" (1957) by Elmer Bischoff , oil on canvas
• "Standing Figure" (1959) by Manuel Neri, plastic with enamel

Keynote speaker, Micheal Schwager.

The first speaker was Makeda Best, Assitant Professor, Visual Studies at California College of the Arts/ Oakland, CA/ Radicalizing the Artistic - Production Models, Techniques, and Forms of the Political Poster in the 1960s and 1970s. Makeda Best speaks about the impact of events such as the Vietnam War and civil right movements that have impacted art at the time. Some key points Best mentions are as follows:

• Rupert Garcia, posters and society: San Francisco Museum of Art, 1974
• Prints created to raise awareness and served as a tool in political movements, as well as displays and marches
• Poster artists made choices to support theme, technology also helped in production of posters
• Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) produced a strike at San Francisco University, through them, schools created ethnicity courses.

Speaker, Makeda Best and Faith Sponsler's head in foreground.

Me, Ashley and Doug going on break! 

An Evening with Sacramento's own David Garibaldi.

On March 31, 2015 I had an awesome opportunity to accompany my sister to a birthday party, not just anyone's birthday party but Joy Garibaldi's party who is the wife of Sacramento's own speed/performance artist David Garibaldi! David's performances usually consists of music which is specific to the event or subject of which he paints and is usually done on large scale and very quickly utilizing anything and everything available to him such using three to four brushes in his hands to using his fingers and hands directly to the paintings.

David Garibaldi's tools and mediums.

I have first seen David's early art works as prints in a art gallery in Santa Cruz and was immediately drawn to his work although very different to what he paints now. His earlier pieces were more animated figures which revolved heavily on the subjects of the love for music and urban theme. I've read an article that Garibaldi has always loved music and has even played the trumpet for years but his love to create artwork had a stronger calling, so he incorporates music in his performances as well as famous musicians as his subjects to exhibit his love for music. David has been performing at numerous venues performing his art and also been on television's America's Got Talent and proceeded all the way to the finals.

Painting of his children for his wife's birthday.

Garibaldi's love for music is a key influence for his art and movement for mark making .

The event was held at Capitol Dine's rooftop patio located in Mid-town Sacramento which created a nice ambiance to close family and friends. But the best part of the scenery was the paint stand and various paint cans in the corner of the event area. Yes! I finally get the opportunity to see a live performance.

Photo of the finished product.

Photo with the art.

LtoR: Me, Lisa (my sister), Joy and David Garibaldi.

2015 CSUS Student Purchase Show

AN EXHIBITION OF WORK BY SAC STATE’S VERY OWN STUDENTS.

GALLERY

Exibition Dates: March 30, 2015 - April 23, 2015
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 2, 6 pm - 8 pm

ARTIST STATEMENT

The Student Purchase Award Show is an annual art exhibit, which is an integral part of the University Union Art Gallery. It is a tradition that dates back to the late 70s, shortly after the original University Union opened in 1975. The show is completely open to all students currently enrolled at Sacramento State.

Students submit their artwork during a three-day period and then off-campus visual arts professionals are chosen to judge the submitted work. Three “Best of Show” awards (in addition to Purchase Awards) are selected solely on the basis of artistic quality, and are awarded a cash prize. The works selected for Purchase Awards are chosen using the following criteria: artistic quality, adaptability into the University Union permanent collection, and the relative price of the piece. Those pieces then become part of the Union's permanent collection and will be displayed in the facility for years to come.

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There's a lot of competition this year for the award show, over fifty pieces of art have entered including two from myself. So a huge congrats to those who made it into the gallery, there was a good amount of work I haven't seen before as well as a nice mix in variety in mediums. The only issue which I have mentioned before in a previous blog regarding the Union gallery space is the lighting and placement of certain artwork. Again the lack of lighting available doesn't do justice to many of the pieces, it wasn't until all the lights (main and spotlights) were turned on that you can appreciate the pieces a little more and see the intricate details and colors of the artworks.

Lindsey McGrath "admiring" the gallery lighting on her painting.

With that note aside, I felt the show was a success. Many of the pieces chosen were very strong and well executed. Some of my personal favorites were Mustafa Shaheen's portraits, which displays an incredible skill of capturing photorealism of everyday activities enhanced with unique and vibrant color palette. Another favorite of mine is Catherine Suan's Cupcakes in watercolor because it is very reminiscent of Wayne Thiebaud's cake series. I am more familiar with Catherine's more recent work in oil paint, so to see an earlier work with a totally different subject in a different medium was a nice surprise.

Watercolor on paper by Catherine Suan.

Of course the most important part of the Purchase Show is to present the winners of the show. Congratulations to Art major Mustafa Shaheen for winning this year's Student Purchase Award for his painting, "Omar F"!   Photography major Steven Berroteran won 2nd prize ("The Body"). 3rd prize went to Evan Purdy in Graphic Design ("Apache Man").

1st Place: "Omar F" by Mustafa Shaheen.

3rd Place "Apache Man" by Evan Purdy.

Oil on Canvas by Catherine Suan.

A piece from Mechanics series by Sokthea Chan.

House paint on canvas by Caiti Chan.

"Frank N" by Mustafa Shaheen.

Me in front of Mustafa's(L) and Catherine's(R) oil paintings.

Shattered: Works of Lindsey Rose McGrath

"Shattered" an exhibition of recent works of oil paintings from graduating student Lindsey Rose McGrath. The context is not just literal representation of the objects shattering but the symbolism and feelings that are conveyed when the objects are shattered or shattering. The objects in the paintings, which looks like glass or ice, are secondary in comparison to messages and moments the artist aims to capture which gravitates around the emotions of loneliness and depression. The artist tries to convey these emotions by using a lot of dark hues to build up the background such as crimson reds and especially Prussian Blue, then to build up a dynamic contrast the artist introduces sharp and vibrant line work, which is the objects.

Some of things that appealed to me with Lindsey's works is her ability to paint translucent objects, especially the paintings where it shows the moments of impact of "glass." I felt these paintings were successful in creating viewer reaction's because the action is something people immediately relate to, the immediate "cringe" when one drops a fragile object.

Aurora, Oil on Canvas.

Another thing I liked about the exhibition was the experimentation of certain ideas, colors, and narrative of some of the pieces. One piece, (Perception) Lindsey introduced a different of palette of colors as well as introduce a background which reads of shards floating in space and on a deeper note translates to the emotion of loneliness.

Sunrise at Sunset, Oil on Canvas.

Perception, Oil on Canvas.

The best part of the exhibition was the glass candy, who doesn't like edible art.

Edible glass!!! Or is it?

Selfie at Shattered.

Fracture, Oil on Canvas.

Submerge, Oil on Canvas.

Damage, Oil on Canvas.

Witt Gallery: Recent works by Toni Hilliker and Trevor Pope Lance

Back in March 18, 2015 I attended the reception exhibition for the recent works of student artists Toni Hilliker, who works in ceramics and Trevor Pope Lance, who works with plaster. I consider myself to be a 2D artist and gravitate to artwork of that nature but I have worked with clay and plaster in the past. That being said, even though 3D art is not my medium of choice I do appreciate the amount of patience, skill, and luck involved with these mediums. I personally like to be in 100% control of the things I paint whereas with clay, ceramics, and plaster requires a lot more finesse to hopefully produce the outcome you are hoping for, especially the firing and curing stages because there is only so much you can control.

I felt the exhibition was good, the artwork was displayed nicely and taking full advantage of the space and lighting. I felt more gravitated towards Trevor's work which is strange because my tastes usually are more favorable to bright, vivid colors or weird and vocal designs. Trevor's work is quite opposite, his plaster forms are fairly simplistic at a glance but at the same time possess a preciseness to them. The pieces are not only composed of plaster but of metal pieces embedded into them as well. Depending on the size, shape, and material of the metal, the final product of the plaster can have some interesting results which cannot be reproduced a second time, so each piece is unique. The rusting of the metal within the plaster also adds another dimension to the piece but still reads itself as precise and minimalist even though the final result is unknown to the artist.

Untitled by Trevor Pope-Lance

Oxidation by Trevor Pope-Lance with partial Caiti Chan and Lindsey McGrath.

Oxidation with Ashley Young, pizza, and Caiti Chan.

Vernacularize.

Tripych.

L to R: Lindsey McGrath, Trevor Pope-Lance and Caiti Chan.

Untitled by Toni Hilliker.

Untitled with myself.

Looking at art makes us thirsty!

Gauntlet Galleries 3rd Annual 12X12 Exhibit

The Gauntlet Gallery is one of two galleries I visited on March 26, 2015 after the failed attempt to obtain admission to see the @Large Ai Wei Wei exhibition. I was hoping to arrive early enough in San Francisco to purchase an early tour ticket but unfortunately that did not happen. On the bright side, the bay area has many great galleries for my viewing pleasure. 

After a quick Yelp research, it was decided we should visit the Gauntlet Gallery which is located at 1040 Larkin St. This gallery did not disappoint and had many pieces of artwork that interest me. I particularity enjoyed three paintings by Steven Lopez titled "Feral Feathers" because there's a strong reference to the illustrative comic art style but created by acrylic on canvas. I also gravitate to images of the human figure and loud vibrant colors which the paintings also possess which gives them an urban, fantasy-like aura to them. The paintings possess a style very much to what I try to achieve in my own artwork.

Another piece that caught my attention was Hilary White's "The Twelve Gates" which is a wall mounted mixed media assemblage. The repetition of shapes and negative spaces provided many interesting points of visual interest. To add to that, the selection of texture and properties of certain materials further peaked my interest of the piece even though I do not understand the meaning or content behind the piece.

The curator that day suggested some good galleries near the vicinity to continue our quest for art knowledge which I will write in my next blog.

You Gots to Chill by Ken Flewellyn

Inhaling the art.

Subsumed by David Cooley

Top portion or The Twelve Gates by Hilary White

Bottom portion of The Twelve Gates

Clinger by Tony Philippou

When you go to IHOP with your grandpa, and he smokes all your DMT  by Sean Norvet

Feral Feathers by Steven Lopez  

Feral Feathers by Steven Lopez

Feral Feathers by Steven Lopez

No Info available on this piece.

No info available on this piece as well, but its huge.