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2/3/2004

Natura Naturans

Absolute Art Gallery, San Marino, CA

(Nature 'naturing') New Works by Selected Gallery Artists: Jean Hearst, Jill Sykes

San Marino, CA - Absolute Art Gallery, a new contemporary art gallery, is very pleased to announce its fifth exhibition, "Natura Naturans² ­ (Nature 'naturing¹) featuring two contemporary fantasy landscape artists, Jean Hearst and Jill Sykes. Both work visually and spiritually through their creative process to their final, strong visual presentations. The exhibition opens March 3rd and runs through 27th, 2004.

Jean Hearst¹s organic images emerge as fantasy or surreal plants and landscapes. By using watercolor and acrylic, her unique paintings reflect her joy of experiencing the unfolding of an idea, knowing the beginning and being excited about the unpredictability of ending.

The subconscious process involved intrigues her as she develops a painting idea. A seed gradually unfolds to what it will ultimately become. As with the organic shapes she often paints, this process is a reflection of the way she feels when she looks at the textures she creates at the beginning of a painting. She seldom uses more than three primaries and white, creating a large variety of colors that relate to each other. By putting down many layers of color and subsequently washing them out she creates her own 'seed.' As the layers build up and the seed matures, her work evolves towards more definite images.

'My final images are a result of research, experimentation and invention,' Hearst said. 'The work involves releasing pictures from my mind, and letting them develop without initial judgment.'

Jill Sykes, another contemporary artist with a strong visual intuition, has been working in a space between figuration and abstraction, shape and ground, in a classic expressionistic push-pull. She likes to play with the picture plane as a flat surface as well as to create a background that subsequently moves the eye forward and back. Her interest in a sensuous surface is evident in the juicy, liquid application of the oil paint.

States Sykes, 'The contrast of the light-drenched backgrounds against darker plant forms showcases the idiosyncratic leaf and stem shapes.' Though draftsmanship is a hallmark of Sykes's work, she thinks of herself as a colorist and takes supreme pleasure in the subtle relationships of contrasting pigments: 'Through washes of oil I allow traces of intense color to filter through, keeping the brush stroke visible, but subtle. The surfaces of these canvases allow the viewer to see the layers of translucent paint.'

Compositionally, Sykes uses the cinematic technique of the blow-up or zoom, with flowers and leaves drawn larger than life. The high contrast also focuses the eye to the edge of each distinct shape, as it becomes a line.

'Ultimately I'm drawn to the elegance and energy of certain natural forms, such as orchids or bamboo. They afford me a subject with inherent contrasts - the angular leaves create wonderful negative shapes that spin webs across the neutral ground.'

The opening reception will be held from 6-9 PM on Saturday, March 6th, 2004 and will be open to the public. Absolute Art Gallery is located at 2326 Huntington Drive, between San Marino Avenue and Del Mar Avenue, 100 feet east of San Marino City Hall, south of Huntington Library in San Marino. '

For more information about Absolute Art Gallery and exhibitions, including images, please contact: Gallery Director at 626.285.8585

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6th, 6-9 PM

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment

With a strong passion for art, Absolute Art gallery presents a variety of excellent contemporary artists working in many different styles and media. The gallery acts as go-between classical and modern, human and natural, historical and realistic, and stimulates conversation of such issues in order to provide a window of communication for art enjoyment and appreciation, and to increase dynamic cultural activities for our families, friends, and the community.

Absolute Art Gallery
2326 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
Tel: 626.285.8585, Fax: 626.285.8808

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