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Writer's pictureElvira m. Dayel

Oliver Hawke Gallery, SF


artists - Elvira Dayel (drawing & sculpture), Liane Ng (prints), Victoria Welling (sculpture)

curator - Philip Beweley

press release:

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Elvira Dayel:

Ukrainian native and San Francisco Bay Area artist Elvira Dayel presents a series of large abstract works of dry pastel on paper as well as 3D-printed mix media sculptures. Describing her work as conceptually surreal, Dayel references the 20th century Russian avant-garde, the Constructivism and Suprematism, with an original 21st century voice. Trained as an architect, Dayel also works in new media including digital rendering and 3d-Printing. Dayel shares, “My work is interwoven and interconnected between and within the media I use.” Using strong, carefully considered color and bold geometric forms, Dayel frequently incorporates depictions of the female archetype. Dayel’s female figures are often placed alone in an invented landscape, and Dayel employs color and line to announce her presence. “This is her voice,” says Dayel, “her presence, loud, vivid, red.”

“I see myself as a minimalist using only as much as needed to convey an idea.” Says Dayel. “The color I use carries its own vision. Invented landscapes are new realities. They provide a vision for an abstracted notion of a place and space. My work is my metaphor for searching, and my landscapes & invented places implicate the presence of the unknown. Creating my sculptures begins in the same way as my drawings, as a conceptual idea that evolves, I begin the process of the sculptures either in a 3D program or by sketching.” Dayel adds, “There is a deeper relationship between the works of pastel on a paper and the sculptures that is intriguing to me. Both are rooted in the same thinking and begin as powder: the powder compressed as chalk for the works on paper, and the powder in the 3D printing process assembled into a new material and shape.”

Dayel describes her process in creating a new work as “…a kind of blindness at first. As I am working through the drawing there is a moment when all of a sudden there is a slit, a cranny of light which opens up – and then I can see! At this moment the doors of a new vision, a new perception open up. As the dark of the reality shifts and morphs, the shades take on a different meaning, and ideas and concepts stand out. This opening of the subconscious enables me to create new work manifesting my personal observation of the world. Every time as I approach a new sheet of paper, I feel as though I submit myself to forces. In the dark I search for the sublime – for me it is when the dark becomes poetry.”

Victoria Welling

Mixed media artist Victoria Welling presents a new work for this exhibition titled: Hoods, 2014, (paper, celluclay, wire mesh, glue, net and dye.) This dramatic installation is composed of five tapering cylindrical forms suspended by netting from the gallery’s eighteen foot ceilings. “I like to think of the netting as extensions to heaven”, shares Welling. Issues of gender-assigned work and traditional craft, and pattern and repetition in shapes and form are themes in Welling’s oeuvre. Welling also incorporates themes in popular culture as inspiration. “I frequently do my sketching while watching T.V., using that as a guide to social commentary, where I pick up on shapes and moods. For this work I was watching the T.V. show, American Horror Story, and there was a scene of a group of witches, all women, wearing these very tall hoods. That got me thinking about the shape of the hood, how it has different meanings: of witches that are frightening, containing ideas of gender and power, and of the terror of the K.K.K. That is also juxtaposed with the hood worn by a wizard that we associate with a kindly and wise older gentleman.” Welling explains that after the initial sketch she experimented with the form by creating various mock-ups. Welling used her head as a model in the creation of this work. Welling adds, “I wanted these hoods to not only explore these ideas and shapes, but also to be real hoods –each of these could potentially be worn, to go over a head.”

The Hoods retain their conical shape by being suspended by netting. “Originally there were just the hoods, and in sketching I played around in pencil with smudging at the top. That led me to consider some kind of sheer fabric to suspend them.” Welling says that she is interested in women’s traditional craft such as knitting, weaving, and the construction of fishermen’s nets. “I found this netting from WWII in dead stock that had never been used. This material created for use in war that was never used added another layer of meaning for me.”

Welling graduated from the Pratt institute in 2006: “Originally I was an illustration major and then shifted to painting. While I was producing works for my professors, in secret I was constructing things to please myself such as sewing paper. My mother was a seamstress and I always had a sewing machine. Slowly I started to present my paper works and was encouraged by my professors to follow this direction. I like scrap material of all kinds and I like to see what I can make them do, shares Welling. I like craft stores and hardware stores both; embroidery and the toolbox. This combination of the masculine and the feminine in work and craft intrigues me.”

Lian Ng

Lian Ng started his career in 1990 as a graphic designer in Seattle, Washington. Past employers included design agencies such as Hornall Anderson Design in Seattle and Cahan & Associates in San Francisco. Since 2000, Ng has freelance for design firms such as Character, Turner & Associates, Turner Duckworth, Eleven, as well as in-house art director for Restoration Hardware. Throughout his career, Lian has worked with brands such as Starbucks, Levi’s, Kohler, K2 Skis and Nike.

His experience ranges from print, packaging, retail graphics to environmental design. Ng’s work has been recognized internationally and is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His work has been published in both trade and consumer magazines, including Communication Arts, Type Directors Club Annuals, ID Magazine, Print, How Magazine, as well as books such as Paper Perfect, Paper Craft and Tangible. In addition to his wide range of professional experience and clients, Ng also runs an online store — Publique Living.

As of 2009, Lian has started to revive his interest in the fine arts, specifically in print making, such as screen printing, letterpress, intaglio and relief printing, as well as sculptural ceramic. Influenced by his background in both mathematics and computer science, Lian Ng’s art and design often incorporates mathematical algorithms, as well as typography or architectural references. His interest in pattern generation based on a given set of criteria has been a recurring theme in his art, often resulting in works that show elements being expanded and manipulated to create systems where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Ng is also fascinated by the naturally recurring pattern, or texture, that is non-repeating but influenced by the environment—such as wood grain, or the crystallization process. A current point of interest is how time affects the generation of patterns. In addition, Ng is also obsessed with detailed alignment and finds it hard to place anything down randomly without a precise and calculated move. Ng’s work has an underlying formal structure but still maintains a sense of organic fluidity by his use of color, texture and composition.

ABOUT US:

Oliver Hawke Gallery is a pop-up art gallery and art exhibition space producing monthly group and solo shows in the South of Market district of San Francisco.

The gallery is affiliated with The Artillery SF, a film, visual graphics and animation studio. Oliver Hawke promotes new and emerging as well as established artists working in various media including illustration, painting, video art, photography and mixed media. The goal of Oliver Hawke Gallery is to provide a dynamic alternative art space where artists can exhibit and sell their art, where the public can be exposed to new artists and ideas in art, and to encourage the creative arts community of San Francisco. The pop-up gallery/exhibition space was a reaction to many local artists being priced out by rising costs in San Francisco. Our hope is that this space will promote artists living and working in the city of San Francisco. And for artists beyond, it will be part of a vibrant arts community.

WHO IS OLIVER HAWKE? (Or will the real Oliver Hawke please stand up?) Oliver Hawke is a fictional character! The pop- exhibition gallery shares the space with The Artillery SF, a visual effects and animation studio. When we were deciding upon a name for the up-up exhibition space, The Artillery SF was also planning the launch of Quantum Comics, their own original comic book series titled, The Quantum Adventures of Oliver Hawke. Naming the space after the main character seemed to fit, and it seemed that someone named Oliver Hawke should have a gallery! It was an inside story that tickled us, and it began the launch of the pop-up space with humor. That sense of fun and joy is what we bring to each exhibition.

For further information and photographs, please contact Philip Bewley, Curator, Oliver Hawke Gallery: philipbewley@gmail.com.

Gallery hours: by appointment and monthly evening pop-up exhibitions.

Parking: Street parking and a nearby parking garage at 255 12th Street,

open until 10:00 pm (call attendant if after hours)

FOLLOW US: www.oliverhawke.com"

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