FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
For more information or images, please contact Kathleen at 510-701-4620, mercurytwenty@gmail.com, or you can visit our website: www.mercurytwenty.com
Julie Alvarado
Accordion Dreams
Kathleen King
Slipping (Into Something)
Mercury 20 Gallery
25 Grand Ave. (at Broadway)
Oakland, CA 94612
Exhibition dates: August 1—August 30, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, August 1 from 6:00--9:00pm (in conjunction with First Friday/Oakland Art Murmur). Live music by master accordionist Lou Jacklich.
Celebrating the second anniversary of the founding of the gallery, Julie Alvarado and Kathleen King open exhibitions of new work at Mercury 20 Gallery on August 1st with a reception for the artists from 6:00--9:00pm.
The paintings of Julie Alvarado portray realistic landscapes derived from photographic images that the artist manipulates to form personal narratives. The intense realism, rich color, and small scale all reference a kind of postcard. These landscapes serve as a visual account of Alvarado's travels as well as a starting point for the exploration of imagination, memory and ideas. Western icons are contemplated in Alvarado's work as she unravels the American cultural fabric.
Julie Alvarado, Surfing Serenade, 2008, oil on panel, photo by Julie Alvarado
After hearing a friend play magical accordion music at a dinner party, Alvarado was inspired to take up the instrument herself. Learning to play the accordion proved to be a transformative, humorous, and spiritual experience that has infiltrated her paintings and resulted in a body of work called Accordion Dreams.
Julie Alvarado was born in Whittier, CA and has a BFA in Art from Cal State Fullerton and an MFA from California College of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited locally at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Sanchez Art Center, Oakland Art Gallery and is represented in numerous private collections.
In her latest body of work, Slipping (Into Something), East Bay abstract painter Kathleen King experiments with ideas of fluidity and containment. Developments to the artist's oeuvre include combining the punch of metallic and spray paint with the lush dimensionality of oils, and refining a process of taping off portions of the paintings and aggregating marks in an improvised manner. Form is created through accident, complex alternation, and asymmetrical patterning. Structure is built and rebuilt in successive layers, coming to rest on the painting's fractured surface. A color palette pushed to excess connects with the juxtaposition of hard edge and rhythmic brushstroke. Relying on process, personal experience and a gritty alchemy, King produces emotionally resonant paintings that continue to explore the possibilities and promises of abstraction in a contemporary milieu of multiplicity and risk.
Kathleen King, Slipping (Into Something), 2008, acrylic, spray paint, oil on wood, photo by Peter Honig
Kathleen King was born in Oakland, CA and has a BA in Art from UC Berkeley. Her work has been exhibited locally at Pro Arts, Hang Gallery, and 66 Balmy and is represented in numerous private collections.
Mercury 20 also presents an ongoing group exhibition in its back gallery. The artwork changes monthly and features new work from the gallery artists. Mercury 20 Gallery is an artist-run gallery in the heart of downtown Oakland; part of the emerging arts district in the Broadway/Telegraph corridor. Gallery hours are Friday, 4:00pm – 7:00pm and Saturday, 12:00 noon - 3:00 pm, and by appointment.