COLORS LINES LAYERS
This group show will feature the work of both local and international artists, all of whom are expert illustrators and masters of their trade.
DANA OLDFATHER
By choosing when to show gravity, perspective, atmosphere, and light, Dana Oldfather creates impossible object/environments and emotes through them. She proposes a multidimensional diagram of anxiety and the desire to overcome it. Through these paintings Oldfather is able to transform her feelings of dread and insecurity into something physical, tangible, and beautiful; a bittersweet beauty that is brightened by the shadow it casts. Oldfather is trying to come to terms with the belief that this is the best of all possible worlds; the possibility that beauty’s fullest potential is achieved by coming through darkness.
DALEK
As a self-taught painter, Dalek, is continuously fine tuning his skills using the basic building blocks of painting. As his usage of color has evolved, so too has his depiction of space and depth. Dalek’s current body of work uses simple techniques and flat colors to convey movement and energy. For him, each painting is an exploration and an opportunity to learn and improve his craft.
MIKAEL B
Mikael Brandrup’s work is unbound – it flows across the graphic footprint of wild-style graffiti to merge with bold colors, graphic shapes, and painterly brushstrokes. Woven together, each piece creates a dynamic universe filled with volcanic energy, uncompromising attitude, and inherent candidness ultimately inviting each person to interpret the work. It is through each piece that he creates a universe in which everything is possible, a haven where thoughts can wander and the gaze can be bewildered, concerns and negative thoughts can disappear so we can just be.
RACHEL STRUM
Rachel Strum’s work investigates the relationship of abstract and representational, elusive vs. tangible, and the realms that exist in between. On the cusp of vivid landscapes, her newest series is inspired by the universal constants of transition, growth, and adaptation. Through the use of bold colors and a mixture of mediums, she finds content through building and subtracting layers of information. Ultimately, Strum’s work is the exploration of duality and the tension that resides between the inner and the outer, the raw & the cooked, the fresh and the decayed and ultimately, nature vs culture.
RICKY WATTS
Ricky Watts equates painting to an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. The highs are exhilarating, full of new ideas and break-throughs. Watt’s goal is to stay on that positive wave as long as possible. With a positive mental attitude, painting stays fun, not forced, and he looks forward to getting into the studio everyday. These works are the highest he has felt in two years and he says he “finally feels like I’ve opened a new door and I can’t wait to explore the other side.”
IAN ROSS
Ian Ross created this series to transport the viewers into the depth of his “hyperorganic” process and aesthetic. He see’s his work as a complex jungle, one that requires time to truly appreciate. With patience each brushstroke becomes a leaf, a tooth, a tear or perhaps an eye. By letting go of the need to identify a subject, viewers are transported to a jungle trail with a new mystery around each corner. Ross see the solutions as infinite and the forms in his work are suggestive of a relationship with nature and a need for a healthy life.
CARL CASHMAN
United Kingdom based artist, Carl Cashman, calls his work “Neometry”, for its obvious connection of neon and geometry. His concepts are created with pen and paper, as he prefers the craft of draftsmanship to computer based rendering. For this exhibit, Cashman has produced a series a work highlighting his signature elements and shapes to create a powerful visual language.
