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Wiegand Gallery, Notre Dame de Namur University

March 15 - April 20, 2013

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1500 Ralston Ave. Belmont, CA 94002
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Paintings: A 40-Year Survey Dawn at Point Conception
The Wiegand Gallery at Notre Dame de Namur University is proud to present paintings by Hank Pitcher. Pitcher is a renowned and prolific artist and professor at UCSB’s College of Creative studies. The exhibition represents a forty-year search for an authentic vocabulary to describe life in Southern California. The reductive quality of his flattened shapes and un-modulated colors recall the realism of Edward Hopper and abstraction of Fairfield Porter. Pitcher worked early on with Paul Wonner, painting representationally in an avant-garde context. In every work, Pitcher endeavors to compose a picture so that it seems "effortless" or even "obvious." Said the artist, "The challenge and the desire is to make a genuine, truthful statement." Considered primarily a landscape painter, Pitcher is equally well versed in painting the figure. The exhibition also features several of his paintings on ceramic vessels. Hank Pitcher is the voice of California culture. At the beach, in the surf, approaching the foothills, in the mountains, on the spit of Point Conception, in the crags of Big Sur, at a beach campfire in Santa Barbara, Pitcher paints the icons of California's culture. Pitcher's painting and teaching has influenced many younger artists. Beginning in the 1970s, the surfboards and surfers in his work were ahead of the wave of surf related art in the contemporary art world. But beyond beach culture, his paintings are about the remaining wild stretches of California coast. Pitcher has marked the seasons of this mythic landscape for over 40 years. This survey samples the artist’s vision of a bright, powerful and private California scape. Opening reception takes place 2:00 - 4:00 pm, March 24th. Wiegand Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday noon-4 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Wiegand website at www.wiegandgallery.org.