Mercury 20 Gallery
NEW LOCATION! 475 25th St. (at Telegraph)
Oakland CA 94612
510-701-4620
www.mercurytwenty.com
NEW GALLERY HOURS! Thursday-Saturday 12-6pm and by appointment
EXHIBITION DATES: May 7 – 29 2010
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday May 7 from 6-9pm (in conjunction with Oakland Art Murmur)
Charlie Milgrim | Spiral Jetsam
Charlie Milgrim Spiral Jetsam I 2010
Charlie Milgrimﾒs work in sculpture installation and drawing embodies the interplay of art science and fate. Using materials that would otherwise become landfill the artist re-contextualizes them to function as conceptual reminders of delicately balanced or potentially destructive forces both natural and political. In Spiral Jetsam the artist addresses consumerismﾒs continuing reckless assault on nature. Referring to Robert Smithson’s seminal 1970 earth work Spiral Jetty she fast forwards the concept 40 years working with consumer waste as an active element.
Charlie Milgrim was born in New York City. She received a BFA from California College of the Arts and an MFA from UC Berkeley. She has exhibited her work at the Oakland Museum the Haines Gallery in San Francisco Gallery 16 in San Francisco OK Harris in New York City and has work in many private collections including the Di Rosa Collection in Napa CA. Her studio is in Berkeley next to the railroad tracks.
Eric Bohr | Ember Days
Eric Bohr Rail 2009
acrylic on canvas 40"h x 30"w
A sequence of days in the seasonal calendar Ember Days refer to three days in each of the four yearly periods marked by religious fasting and prayer. A ritual practice dating back to Celtic and Roman traditions Ember Days focused on the earth in the progression of seasons making time to reflect on nature and human beings relationship to it. In the rush to tame and suppress the rhythms of the natural world cultures have lost this tradition. Painter Eric Bohr presents a series of work on themes of urban and industrial decay in counterpoint to nature demonstrating the moral dimensions of environmental degradation. The artist has also created an original video/sound installation further illustrating the extent of our misplaced priorities.
Eric Bohr was born and raised in Lansing Michigan and apprenticed with Michael Jacobs in Venice California. He has exhibited his work in San Francisco Los Angeles and New York City. He currently lives and works in Oakland CA.
Jamie Morgan Mary Curtis Ratcliff Laura van Duren Joan Weiss | Gallery Group Show
Jamie Morgan draws from images of the urban landscape working on location to capture immediate impressions in small oil paintings. In this show Morgan will show the latest of these paintings continuing his collection of evocative images that delineate the power and dynamics of city life as well as the quietude of places off the beaten path.
Mary Curtis Ratcliff makes 2-dimensional mixed media work that begin with her abstract photographs. Seeking out images that represent peace calm and mysterious complexity the artist sometimes leaves the images untouched but more often applies layers of thin acrylic wash drawing collage and transfers to the original photograph. The underlying structures of tree branches water land masses pools luminous lights shadows and reflections are not lost in this process.
Laura van Duren was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania which has a rich history rooted in the steel industry. Sculpting with clay for the past 20 years van Duren has recently returned to her "steel" roots by casting in iron bronze and aluminum. Her mold-making adventures have led her to experimental casting with resin sugar salt and any other medium that will cooperate. Van Duren will exhibit her cast branches and birds in this latest collection of box collage sculptures.
Exhibiting a series of recent oil paintings Joan Weiss continues to explore the boundaries between image and abstraction. While alluding to urban and pastoral space the work emphasizes texture color and paint surface which becomes more emphatic in this small square (18ﾔ x 18ﾔ or less) format.