Blair Bradshaw's paintings and constructions tend to focus on the graphic simplifications of larger, more complicated systems. Whether it's the periodic table or cartoonish illustrations of war planes, submarines and tanks, the bulk of his work often operates on two levels. Initially a colorful representative iconography is presented. Beyond that is the complicated and, sometimes, messy reality this iconography represents. A rigid grid is commonly employed in these paintings - a crude system in itself that attempts to tame the otherwise chaotic nature of the brush work found in each quadrant.
Employing paint, paper and small constructions Blair's work is reminiscent of the post abstract expressionists of the late 50's and early 60's while creating paintings relevant to our contemporary experience. Other than oil paint, the bulk of his materials are mined from everyday life: canvas panels, phone books, common wire, matches and stove burners.
Recently Blair's work has been featured in the New York Times and the new Absolute Vodka advertising Campaign.
www.blairbradshaw.com
Dvorak's work has been shown nationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including "Re-Presenting Representation VII" at The Arnot Museum in New York, and "Who's Afraid of San Francisco?" and "The Bone Garden" at The Frey Norris Gallery in San Francisco. He's also the recipient of several residency grants. Dvorak lives and works in San Francisco and Maine.
m a t t h e w f r e d e r i c k (principal artist)
Matthew Frederick presents an unconventional and amusing spin on the genre of landscape painting. Inspired by his life amid Northern California’s scenic countryside, “By abstracting from the surrounding landscape, it is my intent to create dynamic imitations that will hopefully encourage viewers to examine the countryside with a fresh perspective”, says Emboldened with lively energy, www.mjfrederickart.com
David Imlay’s approach to painting draws influence from twentieth century American Contemporary Realism as well as Photorealism which both emerged in the Late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Artists such as Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes and John Register utilized the straightforward approach to representation which continues to be widely practiced in these post-abstract eras.
In his paintings of downtown streetscapes, freeway overpasses, empty diners and phone booths, the artist asks the viewer to make a personal connection to stillness and isolation. His usage of warm light and limited color are meant to conjure an emotional dissonance tinged with nostalgia and hope.
“I try not to be too specific in my work and choose commonplace subjects that we see everyday but don’t necessarily ponder over. A cafe, phone booth or overpass-these are all places we’ve been to or seen before and can easily relate to.”
Born in Southern California and raised in
David moved to
d a n i e l g r a n t
Daniel Grant is a fine art photographer living and working in S
Joshua Hagler’s recent paintings are informed by arguments between Intelligent Design advocates and supporters of Darwinian Evolution in order to create an absurdist mythology borrowing from these highly polarizing views as they fight for social and political hegemony.
Important to this concept are two creatures—Behemoth and Leviathan—described in the Old Testament book of Job. A popular interpretation among Young Earth Creationists suggests that the Bible is describing dinosaurs that, at one time, existed on Earth alongside humans, that the dinosaurs traveled with millions of other species of animals and a several-hundred-year-old man on a large boat, and that the earth is between six and ten thousand years old.
Within the paintings, the creatures work as metaphor for our human tendency to reject empirical observation as reaction to fear of our own mortality. The creatures remind us that species must adapt or face extinction. As we misuse our natural resources and move uncertainly forward against the caution of scientific advice, we turn to Mythology to save us. The search for Truth in Mythology overtakes the search for Truth in the Landscape, until the Landscape itself is blanketed in Mythology.
Brian's paintings are inspired by cartoons and dream logic. Layers of paint and collage are woven together into a montage of choice and chance, brought together by a structural sense of composition and an eye for poetry in found materials. Through the use of disparate and often ambiguous imagery, his work employs the Duchampian idea of art being completed by the viewer, allowing each individual to construct a narrative based on personal associations. His distinct visual style is underscored by a rather dry and dark humor which pokes fun at the absurdity of modern life while creating a vigorously tense connection with the viewer. Music is a tremendous influence as well. Brian is fascinated with the spatial, temporal, and structural components of music working with dense layering of paint and collage to create a network of intertwining patterns, stories, and colors which suggests movement, history, and rhythm. Asstructural and spatial patterns emerge, this dense layering of paint and collage is woven together into a unified composition. Parallels between the structural rhythm of music and that of life begin to form in an attempt to understand and to capture the movement, the structure, the patterns, the rhythm, the history, and the inter-connectedness of life.
Fernando Reyes
Art is a second career for Fernando, who spent 17 years in banking in San Francisco. He began as a self-taught artist, then decided to seek formal art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received his BFA there in 1997. He then returned to the Bay Area and has lived in Oakland since 1998. Fernando opened his studio in 1999 which is located at Ford Street Studios, in Oakland's Jingletown Arts District.
Fernando has produced a large and diverse portfolio of artwork. His work is primarily representational and includes oil paintings, charcoal/conte drawings, and printmaking. His primary interest is in depicting the human figure which have captured the attention of collectors throughout the region, nationally and internationally.