Exhibition dates: November 3-26, 2011
Artists' Reception: Saturday, November 12 from 4-7pm. Artists' Talk at 5pm.
Oakland Art Murmur First Friday Opening: Friday, November 4 from 6-9pm

Jo Ann Biagini: Unbound

Jo Ann Biagini combines image transfer, drawing and collage to create works on paper that merge multi-layered images with nuanced surfaces. Biagini uses found book material in a variety of ways --as drawing reference, as an actual surface to draw on and collage with, and as part of a technique where ink from book pages or xeroxes is transferred to another surface using an acrylic medium. Working intuitively, Biagini builds up imagery in transparent layers and uses sanding to subtract and blend. Recent work has grown in scale and complexity. Biagini's mixed media pieces create a visual poetry uncovering connections and relationships among juxtaposed elements.

Born in Oakland, CA, Jo Ann Biagini received a BA from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA in Ceramics from CCAC. Her work has been shown at the SF MOMA Artists' Gallery, Triton Museum of Art and the Oakland Art Gallery.

Image: Jo Ann Biagini, The Life of Birds (detail), 2011, mixed media on paper, 47" x 40"

Maya Kabat: Infinite Expansion Inward

Relating to nature, natural laws and patterns as well as the human need to structure and order, Maya Kabat's drawings explore an alternate vision of space and time where the subconscious rules, and structure and space are malleable. Kabat begins with a system of graphing words and language that emerges from poetry and her readings about art, architecture and science. Choosing words and bits of language, the artist maps them into both coherent and incoherent structural formats. Playing with ideas of folding space, time that moves both forward and backward, macro and micro patterns and grids that twist and shift dimension, Kabat builds drawings that mine the subconscious for meaning.

Maya Kabat was born in Portland, OR. She graduated from Oberlin College with a BA and received an MFA from the University of California, Davis, CA. Her work has been exhibited at Los Medanos College Gallery, Front Gallery in Oakland and the Seattle Art Museum Rental Gallery and her work is represented in numerous private collections.

Image: Maya Kabat, Infinite Expansion Inward #1, 2011, drawing

Julie Alvarado, Eric Bohr, Jill McLennan: Outdoors

Mercury 20 is pleased to present the work of Julie Alvarado, Eric Bohr and Jill McLennan, three painters exploring the rich environments of outdoor life. Julie Alvarado paints realistic portrait and landscape paintings with subjects derived from photographic imagery gathered from old books, postcards and internet images which she manipulates to create narratives of personal interest and humor. Eric Bohr creates modernist abstract works, using found objects and multiple layers of paint to form imaginary landscapes. Jill McLennan's images display real places she observes around Oakland, CA and in other cities. Close-ups of windows and doors are details that tell a story of change and communication over time.

Image: Julie Alvarado, Curly Cheeto Chipmunk, 2011, oil on canvas