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18/2/2004

Two exhibitions

Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

Opening February 19th and running through March 27th, the Rena Bransten Gallery will exhibit new paintings by Joseph Park and a selection of photographs by Henry Wessel.

Joseph Park's oil on linen paintings depict narrative situations that are tangentially autobiographical and eerie. His interest in animation and noir-ish Hollywood film stills coalesce in both charming and disturbing tableaux where bears, bunnies, elephants, cartoon kids, Madonna, and other kitschy subjects await events that could jeopardize their innocence. The child pedaling along a forest path in "Cycle" has no clue what awaits him in the next ten yards or twenty years - and he has no face to register either knowledge or fear. Similarly, the tiny illuminated hide-away in an impressionistic landscape, presented like a Japanese scroll painting, appears under surveillance by a spy plane or other malevolent viewer - the safety of physical isolation has failed.
All the paintings share a sense of foreboding - their subjects "prey" to unseen forces.

Mr. Park was born in Ottawa, Canada; graduated with a BA from Cornish College of the Arts and with an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He currently lives and works in Seattle.

Henry Wessel's title, "Odd Photos", is a literal description of work in this exhibit. Some shots are anomalies in terms of fitting into series or sequences; others have edgy content that force viewers to pause for thought. The full frontal shot of a home with lush shade tree upon closer examination shows half the tree's foliage is it's own shadow. In another photo, a cup hazardously placed on a table edge suggests incredibly lucky balance by the placer or an impending mishap. What's wrong with this picture is an underlying question in much of this work, though the answers may remain just out of reach. Wessel's enigmatic photos capture moments that are decidedly left of center - ones in which the details - for a split second - compose a whole that is greater than its parts.

Mr. Wessel was born in Teaneck, NJ; graduated from Pennsylvania State University and The Visual Studies Workshop at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has been a professor at the San Francisco Art Institute for thirty years. He is the recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts and two Guggenheim fellowships.

Image: Joseph Park, Cycle

Reception: Thursday, February 19, 5:30 - 7:30pm

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10:30 to 5:30, Saturdays 11 to 5. For more information, please visit our website or contact the gallery directly at (415) 982-3292.

Rena Bransten Gallery
77 Geary Street
San Francisco

stampa

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