The Dichotomy of Art at Joyce Gordon

What: The Dichotomy of Art

When: January 4 – January 27, 2013

Opening Reception: First Friday, January 4, 6-9pm

Artist Talk: First Friday, January 4^th 7-8pm

Where: Joyce Gordon Gallery

406 14^th St (12^th St. Bart Exit)

Oakland, Ca. 94612

Who: Lisa Alonzo, Jonathan Blair, James Gayles and Ruth Tabancay

For more information please contact:

Gallery Director: Eric Murphy - eric.aioakland@gmail.com
Gallery: 510.465.8928

Joyce Gordon Gallery presents “The Dichotomy of Art”, an attempt to examine the interdisciplinary practices among artists, not just of their interchangeable artistic media but also the cross sections of their careers.

In 1976, an art program at Columbia College of Chicago was created to examine and explore the interdisciplinary use of techniques from across the fine, performing and multimedia arts. This diverse media approach previously existed as pedagogies of multi-academia challenged each perpetual field of study, usually for the purpose of reaching a mutual task. This later became a method for art students to expand their use of diverse techniques that explore and push the boundaries for new future terrains of art. “The Dichotomy of Art” pushes these boundaries even further by examining the artwork of four predominantly Bay Area artists whose interdisciplinary practice involve tools commonly used by professionals in the white and blue-collar sector of society that consist of commercial graphics, culinary arts and microbiology.

Lisa Alonzo is a Northern California mix-media painter currently residing in Alameda, Ca. After two years of studying design at Cal State Long Beach, she received her BFA in Fine Art from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2008.

 
Alonzo creates paintings from stock images found online. In creating the image, she mimics the pixels she sees from the image onscreen using a pastry tip normally used for decorating cakes. She makes a "fondant" base out of molding paste and as the "frosting" and apply thousands of very saturated dots or starbursts in a pointillistic manner. Her aim is to make the image look as delicious as possible and title the pieces as cakes to be ordered according.

Jonathan Blair was raised in Monterey and received a BFA in Painting from California College of the Arts.  After getting his degree, he relocated to Los Angeles and was employed by Disney Studios for a number of years.  He then became an artist for other major studios in Los Angeles and created numerous privately commissioned pieces as well.  After living in Los Angeles for over fifteen years, he happily returned to his hometown of Monterey, where he continues to concentrate on his art. 

Blair calls his latest work “iconographic paintings”.  Essentially, he takes familiar imagery and recreates it in a contemporary way.  Marilyn Monroe, Mount Everest, Mother Theresa, Clint Eastwood – all images we recognize, but Blair clearly relies heavily on his graphic arts background, creating paintings that are familiar and a little unsettling at the same time.  Blair says he hopes to “express a sociological message within the content and title of the paintings themselves.”

James Gayles is an International artist and art instructor residing in Oakland, Ca. Gayles attended Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied under renowned painters Jacob Lawrence and Audrey Flack.  He simultaneously pursued careers in both fine and commercial art. As a commercial artist he established himself in New York as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, becoming Assistant Director of Graphics at NewsCenter 4, NBC-TV.  At NBC he won a television Emmy Award for design and illustration. 

In his recent “Elder” series, Gayles highlight the various aspects of our culture to bridge the gap between generations and to pay homage to the ancestors and elders of various tribes around the world.  This series shows the different and not so different aspects of our society. Adjacent to this series is a collection of his illustrated work that was created for the Bay Area News Group over recent years.

Berkeley artist, Ruth Tabancay works with a variety of fiber and textile media. With a life-long interest in biological sciences, she majored in Bacteriology at the University of California, Berkeley before continuing on to earn an MD degree at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco. She then worked in private practice Pediatrics for eleven years before deciding to leave her medical practice to study at the California College of the Arts. After several years of studio classes she was startled to realize that her work contained the formal elements that she had once studied under a microscope.

While her work continues to be largely influenced by microscopic imagery, she uses a range of techniques including computerized Jacquard weaving, felting, embroidery, and hand-stitched tea bags. She is currently a member of Mercury 20, a contemporary art gallery in Uptown Oakland. Her work is in the collection of the Oakland Museum of California.

Curator’s Statement – This autonomy of life expands the realm of our imagination but cannot be mistaken as a new frontier.  Art that is influenced by or involves one’s day-to-day practice has gripped the hands of many predecessors.  Let’s examine Italian born engineer, Ettore Buggati, influenced by a family of visual artists and considered himself an artist and constructor who designed one of the world’s fastest and most elegant racing cars, Buggati (now owned by Volkswagen).  The interdisciplinary advancement of his “art” is a nod to his alternate career as a manufacture of airplane parts used in Buggati’s design. 

For the artists in this exhibit, this Warhol like experience of commercial/working class meets fine art blurs the line between artistic expression and remuneration. In a gelastic expression, I imagine the day Clark Kent can come to work openly bearing the ‘S’ on his chest. However, if any part of this can be described as transmittal, I would have to agree with artist, writer and philosopher, William Morris in stating that beauty and care are inherent in everything that is done and that "art" in fact ceases to exist as a separate entity, and becomes an aspect of everything that we do.  – Eric Murphy

Joyce Gordon Gallery is a commercial fine art gallery located in the downtown district of Oakland California. It exhibits art that reflects the social and cultural diversity of the Bay Area and international artists. The aim of the gallery is to respect the creative pursuits of the individual and seeks to make such work accessible to a broad audience.

Joyce Gordon Gallery    

406 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612     

510-465-8928  

www.joycegordongallery.com