Opening Reception: Friday, February 4, 6-9pm (in conjunction with Oakland Art Murmur)
With a series of new paintings, artist Joan Weiss explores the repetition of forms in nature and the emotional and symbolic qualities of color. Weiss finds inspiration in the layering of shapes, the creation of pattern and the simultaneous push toward growth and decay in the natural world. Teetering between recognizable image and abstraction, Weiss pushes the inherent materiality of paint and the picture plane, while creating dreamlike images which suggest plants, root systems, seedpods, leaves and tendrils. The urge toward perfection is balanced by eccentric irregularities as the Natural confronts the Unnatural in a strange counterpoint, resulting in paintings of singular mystery and emotion.
