Circle in the Square

August 2 - September 5, 2008

Cheryl Walker

Special Event: Dance Performance Dancers Liz Curtis and Martha Carrascosa performed at the Opening Reception (August 2), incorporating the work of visual artist Cheryl Walker. Flyer Press Release Photos from the Opening Reception

The Brand Library Art Galleries is pleased to present new art works by

The obvious unifying motif for these diverse Southern California artists is the circle, or to be precise, the circle in the square. Kim’s mixed media works create seemingly elastic circles out of string, while Sironi’s Glass Curtain installation is made up of rigid antique optometric lenses and her paintings hide broad circular forms in the detailed application of paint. Van Hook has spent several years contemplating and building upon Giotto’s rumored “perfect circle” and Kolo paints huge canvases that depict the forms and shapes of the natural world using the tiniest of colorful, round stipples of acrylic paint. Walker invites the viewer to participate in her artwork by adding, removing, or repositioning circular vinyl pieces. But beyond the circle theme, their work demonstrates a shared interest in perception, light and color. What the viewer perceives when viewing the work up close is very different from what can be seen at a distance. Our perceptions of how certain materials should behave are shattered, as when Kim’s tightly coiled natural brown string takes on unexpected reflective properties. We are forced to perceive the world according to the artist’s desire, as in the case of Walker’s layers of transparent vinyl in varying hues and Sironi’s Glass Curtain, which magnifies, telescopes, and otherwise distorts whatever is seen through it (often her own paintings or the work of other artists). Certainly their approach to the artistic process is similar; inherent in all the work is a certain meticulous, tenacious commitment to method and form. The viewer senses the temporal in these works of art and can easily imagine the hours spent welding lenses, the painting of each circle or dot, the cutting of each piece of vinyl and the slow winding of string.

Yesung Kim (Upland) was born in Seoul, South Korea and holds MFA degrees from Chung-Ang University and Claremont Graduate University. Kim’s mixed media pieces are seductively simple. Ordinary brown packing string is deftly applied to a painted canvas creating organic shapes that shimmer and reflect light. At times these shapes appear to be on the brink of an amoeba-like division as they spread and expand, dropping off the edge of one canvas and continuing on another. Kim cites the natural world and light and color as the underlying themes that both inspire and permeate her work. Following solo shows at the Seoul Museum of Art and the Seoul Arts Center, Kim’s work was most recently exhibited at the San Bernadino County Museum’s Multi-Media Mini Show. To learn more about Yesung Kim's work visit www.yesungkim.com	Yesung Kim Echo G1, 2 & 3 mixed media, 36 x 48”
Barbara Kolo (Santa Monica) earned her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Kolo participated in a successful two-person show at the Brand Library Art Galleries in 1999 and we are pleased to present nearly ten years later a new body of work that connects to that which was here before. In those works and these, her focus is on representing organic materials. The current large scale acrylic on canvas works are saturated with color; the stippled application of paint creates organic shapes and patterns representative of the natural world. The subject matter is open to each viewer’s interpretation; where one may see a birch forest at dusk, others may see the bold aesthetic of pure color and abstraction. Kolo has had recent solo shows at Topanga Canyon Gallery and the Off Rose Gallery in Venice, California. To learn more about Barbara Kolo's work visit www.barbarakolo.com	Barbara Kolo Myth acrylic on canvas, 4 x 5’
Susan Sironi (Altadena) earned her BFA at California State University, Long Beach. This exhibition will showcase Sironi’s recent paintings as well as her Glass Curtain installation which is comprised of conjoined antique optometric lenses. Her paintings are about texture, color, and process. Small dabs of oil paint are painstakingly applied to aluminum, building up an intricate, thorny surface. Highly textured and multi-hued when viewed up close, this surface belies the minimalist color-field appearance of the work at a distance. In the artist’s own words, “texture and color play equal roles in these works. They…set up contradictions within each piece. Paintings that seem to invite touch and intimacy are also reserved and autonomous. Time and process are weighed against a static and minimal structure.” Sironi’s work was most recently seen in the Brea Art Gallery’s Made in California exhibition, at the Chouinard School of Art Gallery, and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art. To learn more about Susan Sironi’s work visit web.mac.com/susansironi/susan_sironi/Welcome.html	Susan Sironi Untitled (Big Green) oil on aluminum panel, 32 x 57”
Luke Van Hook (Inglewood) earned a BFA at Otis College of Art and Design. For several years, Van Hook has been exploring in his work Giotto’s fabled “perfect circle”. Over time the single-minded focus on the perfection of the circle has been subsumed by the artist’s interest in the aesthetic and expressive qualities of the circle. New works depict ritualistically repeated circular brushstrokes on canvas, hemp, and other materials. Van Hook states that he began “as a challenge to myself to see if a perfect circle was possible; these circles have now morphed into [a] study in patience.” The sense of time and the marking of time is inherent in the meticulous application of paint. The viewer can appreciate these temporal qualities but is also compelled to bring their own interpretation to the work: are these circles pure abstraction? Combined do they conceal deliberate shapes and forms? Or are they perhaps a secret code or language? Van Hook has exhibited recently at Santa Monica’s TAG Gallery in an exhibition juried by Peter Frank and at the Sphinx Gallery in the downtown Los Angeles arts district. To learn more about Luke Van Hook's work visit www.lukevanhook.com	Luke Van Hook January oil on canvas, 16 x 14.5”
Cheryl Walker (Los Angeles) earned her BA in art in her home state of Minnesota, and her MFA from California State University, Long Beach. In this exhibition Walker will be creating two large site-specific installations of vinyl, oil pastel and natural and artificial light. Walker explains that the driving force behind her work is “human interaction and improvisation in response to a natural phenomenon or situation.” Trained as a painter, Walker’s installations have some of the qualities of painting—when viewed head-on the suspended layers of vinyl can appear to be two-dimensional because of their transparency and the cut shapes and forms applied to the vinyl are reminiscent of brushstrokes—but removed from the wall these works are thrust into what she calls an “interactive field of play”. The fluidity of the material she works with and her interest in collaboration between the artist and viewer have inspired Walker to create works that can be transformed into performance pieces by dance, music, and in-situ art-making. In this exhibition, a dance performance will take place at the opening reception and throughout the exhibition viewers will be encouraged to physically interact with the work by moving or adding vinyl forms to the installation. Walker has exhibited extensively in Southern California and has presented collaborative installation performances at MOCA, REDCAT and Angel’s Gate Cultural Center. To learn more about Cheryl's work visit www.scwca.org/ar/arPage.php?m=00629&s=a.	Cheryl Walker Aquarium (detail) oil pastel on vinyl, 56 x 29 x 23”