Rick Arnitz "Melon Squared"
Rick Arnitz's recent work is involved with process/ imagery that conveys
an 'American' style/identity. “He has long worked like a formalist and
thought like a political cartoonist, an improbable combination even in
the creative melee of contemporary art. His primary tools - paint
rollers - limit his moves considerably, but he has developed a
prodigious dexterity with them regardless. They keep picture space
shallow, if not entirely flat, and lend themselves to repetitive
marking”.
Kenneth Baker, SF Chronicle, 2010.
|
|
|
Mark Ashworth
"Look What Freddy Did"
Starting with a random placement of shapes just like a toss of the dice,
Ashworth proceeds to formalize his compositions with line and color,
relying on spontaneity and intuition. His inspiration comes from
various sources: Patterns and symbols of Celtic culture. Nature, where
inspiration comes from leaf patterns, rings of a tree and ripple of
light on water. The stratum of desert mountains. Treasurers revealed at
an archeological dig as layer of dirt and rock are removed.
|
|
|
Suzy Barnard "Pistachio Float"
Industrial yet romantic, large cargo ships
seen from far away are imbued with poetry. While the shipping industry
is heavily laden with associations of environmental disaster, pollution,
and globalization, the ships themselves are symbols of freedom and new
horizons. From her studio, Barnard feels that the ships are formidable,
proud and beautiful, and they keep appearing and disappearing in new
ways that stretch my way of seeing. She drags and scrapes the color with
broad strokes, delving deeper with paint into the emotional seascape
that presents itself every day, as the vessels traverse the scene, or
rest for a while at anchor until their next adventure.
|
|
|
Jamie Brunson "Arcadia"
The Veil Paintings: works with a mixture of oil paint, alkyd medium and
refined beeswax on canvas stretched over panels, building up thin layers
of fluid paint drawn into fluid paint. The painting process demands
attentive consciousness and staying present with the materials,
reflecting Brunson’s engagement with Kundalini meditation practice,
which has similarly demands. As with meditation, the act of painting
creates a sense of surrender and absolute union with the situation as it
unfolds. For Brunson, these paintings rely on their capacity to evoke
sensations of expansion and engagement in the people who view them.
|
|
|
Betty Jo Costanzo
"Lake Chelan #4"
Movement is the underlying theme in her work. Over the years, and around
the world, Costanzo has recorded and collected videos and soundSCAPEs
that capture the arresting passage of place and time. When she is
painting, she wants to give life to that subtle motion. By projecting
her TimeSCAPE videos while painting a subject, she is able to connect
again to the location and time where the subject first had all of her
senses engaged. Inside this enhanced painting process, the motions of
her own body become connected to those distant senses. She knows when a
painting is finished when shifting just above its surface, the fluid
grace she found in nature is visible.
|
|
|
Carol Lefkowitz "Untitled #163"
Her paintings are about the activity of painting and what is hauled up
in its process – transparency, opacity, rhythm, stillness, pattern,
light, randomness, depth, flatness, immersion and submersion. They are
also about time, accumulation, dredging and scraping. Scouring for
something unnamed, unfamiliar and yet ultimately and intuitively
complete. Lefkowitz’s desire as a painter is to investigate an
emotional depth and personal perspective that is a window into herself
and at the same time a reflection of the world outside of me. On a
deeper level, this work is a meditation on painting, and her evolution
and commitment as a painter.
|
|
|
Simone Simon
"They Seeded the Clouds With Unconscious Intent"
When she begins to paint, Simon starts from a non-representational
place, and bring sensation into form. She plays with phenomenon that
exist beyond the normal organization of perception and explores the
matrix that binds forces and systems of energy together. Pouring paint
in many different directions on the canvas layers impressions on top of
each other. Decisions to proceed occur both cognitively and outside the
normal realm of the senses. The luminosity of the paint brings attention
to other dimensional aspects, and makes the unseen, seen.
|
|
|
June Yokell
"Voyage to Antiquity"
June Yokell's current paintings are influenced by specific aspects of
nature, particularly by trees and water; by the movement of, by light
on, by shadows and reflections, by the power of, by fluidity, or by
calming abilities. She is interested in how paint is used and the
tension of control and chaos that creates a coalition between
representation and abstraction.
|
|
|
|
2nd Fridays in Jingletown!
Be sure to visit all the galleries in Jingletown during the next
2nd Friday on March 8 from 6 to 9 pm.
Please check websites of each venue for gallery hours and participation.
Jingletown is a vibrant arts community nestled in a diverse neighborhood adjacent to the Oakland and Alameda Estuary.
Visit the Jingletown website for more information about galleries and artists in the community and for directions.
Check out the recent article about 2nd Fridays in Oakland Local.
Jingletown:
Art on the edge of Oakland
|
|
|
|
Pin-up photo boxes by Mariah Carle
|
|
|
About the Gray Loft Gallery
The gallery acknowledges the achievements of emerging and established
artists - with an emphasis on those who live and work in the Bay Area -
in a non-traditional art space. The mission of the gallery is to
provide exhibition opportunities for artists in a setting that is an
alternative to the traditional gallery model.
The Gray Loft Gallery is a unique venue located on the 3rd floor of one
of Oakland’s oldest artists’ work/live warehouses in the historic
artist district Jingletown.
The gallery was founded in 2012 by Jan Watten.
We rely on the assistance of a group of friends and artists in the
Jingletown community and beyond, with special acknowledgements going to
the following:
Styrous, blog keeper and photographer
Martin Sweet, gallery builder extraordinaire
Betty Jo Costanzo
Karyn Yandow and all the Ford Street Women
Perry Bleeker Design
Lotus Color Printing
Rock Wall Winery
Urban Legend Winery
And all the art lovers who come to the shows and support our gallery!
Thank you!
|
|
|
|
