Mural at Space Gallery

Mural at Space Gallery, 2012

MAY 12TH, 2012 SOLO EXHIBITION @ LOPO GALLERY

It's time to release my large paintings to the viewing public after over a year of hard work. I am very much looking forward to my Solo Exhibition at Lopo Gallery. I have been working with the Gallery for a while but this will be my most ambitious show thus far, with one painting in particular that took me six months to finish. I have posted some of the pieces in my blog here, but there will be plenty of previously unseen works, and to be honest the pictures hardly do just to the ink paintings because they have lots of little details that get lost by the lens. Come in to see it in person if possible!

I'll also be in the Gallery the week before the opening working on some installations to go with the artwork. I think that if given the opportunity, making an environment in the gallery around my art is the way to go. I find that as artists we can expand on our concepts by not limiting the expression to the rectangular shape of the art, but to let people walk into a room and become submerged in their surroundings, that's what it is to be generous with ones work. That will be my goal in May, to create an environment not just a show. I look forward to the challenge!

DMT Mary, detail, 2012, 6o"x44.5", ink on paper

OPENING RECEPTION:
LUST FOR LIFE
SATURDAY MAY 12TH, 2012, 7p-11p

LOPO GALLERY

1141 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA.

email: chris@lopogallery.com
415.377.3325



(sneak peak of the installation the week before the opening)

Check out pictures from the show here:
http://hifructose.com/2012/05/16/helen-bayly-brings-the-party-at-lopo-gallery/
http://2opcollective.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/helen-bayly/
http://www.artbusiness.com/1open/051212a.html



The Fountain of Decay

The Fountain of Decay

I made this painting inspired by the youth culture today. On New Years Eve 2012 I painted at a fancy event in a fancy hotel where young, pretty people came out to drink and celebrate. I was sober until about 11:45 because I was painting and I wanted to stay concentrated around such a large group of people. The result of this was being very conscious at midnight surrounded by a mass of extremely inebriated very unconscious and equally unpleasant people. I'm no stranger to the party culture either, game recognise game. Growing up in Santa Cruz we started early and did it right. Not to say it makes the ideals of indulgence any more attractive or healthy, it just means I had to learn the hard way, and still need reminders from time to time. Anyways, back to the art, based on the mythological fountain of youth, this fountain of decay delivers a promise just the same, it's the ugly side of free and adventurous ever sought after endless party lifestyle. There lying in the shadows is addiction, depression, disease, disgrace, basically the full package of decay to the human body and mind.

Please enjoy the artwork responsibly.

The American Albino Alligator

(click on image to enlarge)

This painting is for a Thursday Night party in March at the California Academy of Sciences. I am truly a fan of this institution and was extremely excited to contribute art to an event taking place there. The new building (2009?) is a very beautiful, advanced, self sustainable structure dedicated to the Natural Sciences, but I remember the old building from years ago. I grew up in Santa Cruz, about a two hour drive to San Francisco, and my mom used to take me on trips there as a child. There was a large Alligator pit, much like the current one, and you could stare down at these ancient creatures which were very impressive, all be it quite inactive. I very much enjoyed these trips and find that today looking back on my early experiences with the natural world I can't help but give them credit for my adult passion and connection to nature. Some day I'll have to retire to a calmer place, where the gators run free (but hopefully not too close by) and I can take my shoes off and reclaim my place in the larger scheme of things: as a lonely human on a big planet.

The Messenger, an Albino Snake

Patrick Alan Dominguez

A really great friend of my dad's passed away last year, I made him this painting as a commemoration. Here's a bit about him (taken from his obituary in the Santa Cruz Sentinel):

Pat's style and interests were eclectic and diverse. He was a true Santa Cruz person. He loved a spontaneous party, playing his bass with fellow musicians, meditating, concerts, walking to the ocean, skiing and hiking in the mountains, reading, watching sporting events, listening to music, and tending his gardens. Always, Pat enjoyed sharing a good joke. He had a great sense of humor. Pat remained insightful in spite of his illness, encouraging his friends to embrace all aspects of life with a joyful state of mind.

Rest in Peace Pat...

Lust for Life

(click on image to enlarge)

After about six months I finished this painting, 4 foot by 12 foot in size, it was quite a bit of work. I started it after a decision last year to make something serious, as a piece of Art that I really wanted to make for myself. Not to make it because I thought it would sell or because it was what other people wanted to see, but because it's what I think can bring me closer to the source. I have an idea about artists, that they have this sort of vision they start out with that gets shaped over one's life span but really it's a concept of the world that we're born with. If you look at any museum retrospective I think it becomes quite obvious. You can see early on what substance is there even before the the masterpiece is made, and the later work or masterpiece is often very similar, just a very polished version of the first ones. The trick is the polishing, which is what the life of an artist consists of. And how that time and energy is spent leads to getting closer to that original vision, or if one isn't careful, moving further away from it and living as a mirror for popular thought.
I don't believe we know what we're going to make in the future, but I think we can sometimes get a feeling about what it may be if we're honest with ourselves and take the path of internal motivation. So with this last painting, I got that feeling, like I was getting closer to the ultimate painting I would like to some day make. I don't know what that painting looks like yet (maybe it wont be a painting at all) but I did have a step, so this year ends on a high note. It ends with my Lust for Life.

Underwater

Here's a new piece I made for Gallery 454 (454 Columbus Street is the location). The show was associated with the surf contest in town this week so the theme was around the existential vastness of the ocean, the other worldly power and grace of a huge body of water, to feel comforted in it's interconnected embrace while feeling fearful of one's compromised control. Nature at it's best. Some thing to love and embrace for it's beauty and faults alike. At least that's what was on my mind, enjoy!