Previous Exhibition:
Featuring work by three Ojai artists
Richard Flores, Joanne Pavlak, and Soni Wright
exploring both connections and contrast in their use of surface, line, texture and form.
On the Surface.... Exhibition in the Logan Gallery
Ceramics by Richard Flores and Paintings by Joanne Pavlak
The Opening Reception was held Saturday, July 9, 2016
Richard Flores
"George Ohr What?" Series
Richard Flores
Crater luster glaze on ceramic | 10" h x 12" w x 6" d
The ceramic work of Richard Flores is informed by a deep understanding of the medium’s history. The influence of the ancients blends seamlessly with the currents of Modernism. He sees the exhibition as an invitation for viewers to explore the endless macro/micro connection we experience, share and are deeply affected by, from a more sensitive presence and conscious awareness.
Works by Richard Flores. Click for larger view.
“Challenging the basic and passionate connection I feel with the world I am continually made aware of the repeated invite of this life to examine, explore and open myself up to that which is beyond on the surface, in any experience,” Flores says. “I often observe a tendency with many of us to be attracted, in many ways, to the surface reflection we see or experience with an object or situation. At the same time most of us know there is always more…. than what is On the Surface…”
Flores adds: “As humans are literally 99+% blind to the known light spectrum and we see only that small fraction of the known light that is reflected from any surface, it compels the insatiable curiosity within to investigate not only that surface with more reverence, but to explore the textures, colors and forms of art and life at a much greater depth.”
Joanne Pavlak
Untitled (10-2)
Joanne Pavlak
Oil on canvas | 22" h x 28" w | 2010
$2,100
Photo Credit: Richard Nicol
As a child, Joanne Pavlak was aware that the sky was vast and wondered if it ever ended. In her reachable, touchable world she looked at details and collected specimens. As an adult, she worked in the Biological Sciences Department at USC and gained a basic understanding of nature's complex systems. Through an electron microscope, she saw the secret world of organisms and plants, and it is this world that fuels her art.
Paintings and Drawings by Joanne Pavlak. Click for larger view.
Pavlak’s oil paintings and ink drawings consist of layers of overlapping repetitive marks. In her drawings the marks are often inspired from some detail of nature, such as line patterns found on tree bark, the branching patterns of plants or the scales on butterfly wings. Conversely, the marks in the paintings, which she thinks of as particles, are more generic. They gather, disperse, migrate, school and swarm within the confines of the canvas. In both paintings and drawings each layer of marking changes the identity of the previous marks.
“During the development of each piece there is a point when inspiration falls to the background of consciousness yet still resides within its making,” Pavlak says. “The drawings often come to their own conclusion as a gathered entity in space. The marks in the paintings function differently. Beginning with random marks that break up visual space, the paintings develop from a rhythm that naturally occurs from the repetitive mark making and the beat of the music I'm listening to. After multiple layers of accumulation the marks begin to coalesce into a collective identity, reuniting the space within the painting and become spatial fields.”
On the Surface.... Exhibition in the Logan Gallery
"Bowl of Truth" by Richard Flores, and Paintings by Soni Wright (left) and Joanne Pavlak (right)
Soni Wright
"Zero Gravity"
Soni Wright
Mixed media | 12" h x 12" w
$300
The works of Soni Wright are inspired by landscapes of desolation tinged by man, high desert lake beds ravaged by highways, ancient alpine glaciers violated by ski lifts, sensual rolling fields raped by electric lines, and memories of spaces and time experienced and imagined.
Works by Soni Wright. Click for larger view.
“If you drive from Big Bear Lake to Victorville through the Lucerne Valley, you cross a dry lake bed – it is flat, bleak and desolate most of the year, but after a rain, it glows with mysteriously beautiful reflections of the high desert,” Wright says. “The area around the lake is dotted with abandoned mines, sleazy motels, neon-lit bars and a giant cement plant. It is a landscape of desolation tinged by man – humanity and nature have combined to create a panorama that is at once beautiful and disturbing. This is the type of landscape that inspires my art.”
The subject matter of Soni Wright’s works are dictated by a mysterious interaction between the artist and the artwork itself – a give and take that borders on the spiritual. The result is a sensual tactile creation with the appearance, as well as the reality, of opposing textures, tempting the viewer to touch the art – to see with the hands as well as the eyes.
On the Surface.... Exhibition in the Logan Gallery
Ceramics by Richard Flores and Paintings by Soni Wright
The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is Open to the Public
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Road, Ojai, CA 93023
805.646.3381
Driving Directions
