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From Beginning to End: Ron Garrigues, A Retrospective of the Last Quarter CenturyPost an Event »

Varnish Fine Art

February 25 - April 1, 2012

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16 Jessie St., #C120 San Francisco, CA 94105
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From Beginning to End: Ron Garrigues, A Retrospective of the Last Quarter Century
Artist Reception Saturday, February 25th from 4pm to 7pm 50 years after his groundbreaking solo exhibit at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Ron Garrigues honors Varnish Fine Art with a retrospective spanning the last quarter century of creative endeavor. Varnish Fine Art presents a retrospective solo exhibition of the past 33 years of artwork by Ron Garrigues. “From Beginning to End” features 33 bronze sculptures (Man and Beast Series), 33 etchings on clayboard (the Big Bang Series) and 33 sumi ink paintings mounted on silk (the Next One Billion Humans 2025 AD Series). Ron Garrigues resonates with the concerns of 21st Century Mankind, using his art as a vehicle to bear witness to the beginning (the Big Bang) and as a foretelling of a possible end for Man and Nature. Ron Garrigues first gained critical acclaim in the art world with his 1961 solo exhibit of sculpture at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Referencing sculptural skills gained under the tutelage of Richard Whalen, Peter Voulkos and Harold Paris and influenced by the poetics of late 1950’s Beat culture in North Beach, Garrigues explored what he describes as “the lyric purity of form and line.” He trekked around the world, exploring rainforests, climbing the Andes, Himalayas, Alps and the Sierra Nevada, all the while recording the impact of “Man” on “Nature.” His observations on extinction, overpopulation and greed in the new millenium form the basis of his art while retaining a commitment to the beauty of form. Sublime tension, particularly in Garrigues’ series of bronze skulls, engages the viewer on a visceral level, driving his message home. Since 2007, Garrigues has turned his attention to the second dimension, using clayboard and traditional sumi ink materials to address concerns about the number of humans occupying the planet Earth and the sustainability, or lack thereof, of this unmitigated population explosion. “Beauty works for Garrigues… It serves him, and serves his message, and he has got something very serious to say. We can only hope that he is heard.” – Thomas Berry (1914-2009)