Two Worlds: Photographs by Victoria Staller and Sculpture by Laura Van Duren
May 4 – 27 2007
Mercury 20 Gallery is proud to announce the two-person exhibition of Victoria Staller and Laura Van Duren entitled ﾓTwo Worldsﾔ
Oakland-based photographer Victoria Staller will be presenting ﾓReframe: On Fragments of the Past.ﾔ This body of work combines Stallerﾒs artistic tendency to give new life and meaning to discarded objects and to look for worlds hidden within worlds along with a symbolic representation of the way she is trying to approach her past ﾖ both personal and artistic.
ﾓThe idea is that something – some event some image – may not be ﾓperfectﾔ to keep as-is. But if I am willing to take another look at it sometimes long after the event has happened or the image has been created I may find something truly worth saving. Sometimes it is a large piece sometimes it is only a fragment ﾖ of a memory of an image ﾖ and sometimes that fragment may only tangentially speak to the original whole. What is most wonderful to me is when the fragment transcends that original whole to say something different to become something new altogether.ﾔ
Victoria Staller has exhibited her work in galleries throughout Northern California. Additional information about her work can be found at www.mercurytwenty.com .
Sculptor Laura Van Duren was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and received her B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been working with clay for the past sixteen years.
This current show introduces bronze as the new element in Van Duren’s ceramic figurative work. She continues to portray female figures but they are no longer nude instead they have long towering dresses which are perched on legs that are sticks cast in bronze. "I have always been attracted to rusty metal and nature forms. These legs allow me to make the works bigger and stronger." Van Duren who also welds the armatures for her pieces says" These women look strong and fragile at the same time. They convey that while we want to be in control of our lives life does not always make that possible. That explains the disarticulated arms hands and legs." Van Duren’s new work still echoes her trademark boats and ladders but the addition of bronze and iron has brought a new maturity to the work of this Bay Area sculptor.
Laura Van Duren is represented by Art-Scape Gallery in Walnut Creek. Her work can also be seen on her website www.lauravanduren.com .
There is also an ongoing group exhibition in the back gallery consisting of work from Mercury 20 artists. The artwork changes monthly and features new work from the gallery artists.