14 December 2002 - 18 January 2003

REED DANZIGER
false truth

  

San Franciscan Reed Danziger makes complex, intricately-layered paintings
that become worlds in themselves. Arabesques, mandalas, dots, and other
ornamental designs co-mingle with organic shapes and patterns from
nature. Like cells frantically reproducing in a petrie dish, their dense
clusters seem about to explode from the surface.

As she builds each layer, Danziger interweaves stenciled patterns with
free-hand drawing. She has long been fascinated with anonymous forms
of design and decoration of ancient origins. Her process of layering
silkscreen, drawing and painting simulates the unpredictable ways in
which these forms have morphed over the centuries as they have come
into contact with new cultures and technologies. Yet her motifs also
mimic nature in the way they mutate and regenerate as the paintings
evolve.

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Untitled 2002, oil, pencil, pigment,
shellac on paper on wood, 32" x 32"
GERHARD MAYER
NGC 1976

  

German artist Gerhard Mayer's drawings are created within the para-
meters of seven strict rules. Using drafting pens and an elliptical stencil,
he draws curving parallel lines that, among other requirements, cannot
intersect, cannot become complete ellipses or mere points, and must
always lie on the horizontal. The complex reiteration of similar marks
results in works that are delightfully diverse and consistently elegant.
Mayer's recent drawings are based on infrared photos of interstellar
clouds. NGC 1976 is the astronomical classification code of an interstellar
cloud in the constellation Orion, which is visible in both San Francisco and
Germany at this time of year. In addition to the small works on paper,
Mayer will create a wall drawing, using a large elliptical stencil he
constructs out of wood and operating within the same seven
parameters.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Goethe Institut Inter
Nationes in making this exhibition possible.

 


Gerhard Mayer, C5, 2002
colored ink on paper, 13.5" x 17"
 


Gerhard Mayer, 221, 2002
ink on paper, 13.5" x 17"