Intimacy Illuminated

November 20 - December 18, 2021

Exhibition Statement

Through works that depict luminosity and use of light, to works that honor a feeling of intimacy between people, this exhibition explores the merging of these qualities during these pandemic times.

Nathalie Fabri, Curator

Catalog design: Michael Yochum Logo design: Nathalie Fabri Arc Gallery © 2021

Participating Artists

Nathalie Fabri Charles Gadeken Dianne Hoffman Steve Hurst J.L. King Susan R. Kirshenbaum Linda Larson Sean O’Donnell Felipe Soltero Paulette Traverso H. Momo Zhou OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, November 20th, 7-9pm CLOSING RECEPTION: Wednesday. December 18th, 12-3pm

Intimacy Illuminated

Arc Project Gallery

Nathalie Fabri Colors are the mainspring when a new piece is forming; the desire to create erupts from a yearning to see colors interact on the canvas.

The use of bold, contrasting colors increasingly takes precedence in directing the mood of my paintings.

Stepping away from urban landscapes, I have been exploring the idea of growth though flowers. The symbols of the flower are many: from life to death, maturation, femininity, fruitfulness.

Emerging from this concept is my series on « wild flowers » which are also seen as « vulva flowers » representing the growth and power of sensual femininity. Like flowers, the development and maturation of women contain many layers, and it is when a flower is in full bloom with it’s center revealed that it is deemed most beautiful.

This piece, Discover Me, was made with the theme of Intimacy Illuminated in mind. Unabashed, this flower reveals itself to the audience in all it’s glory, inviting and mysterious. It is an intimate engagement between the viewer and art piece.

website: email:

www.fabrikations.com art@fabrikations.com

photo credit: Fabio Reis

Discover Me acrylic on canvas. LED lighting 20" x 20" $750

Charles Gadeken Charles Gadeken is an award-winning industrial artist working in the creative field for over 25 years, whose monumental interactive public artworks reimagine the world post-nature. Artwork commissions include Black Rock Arts Foundation, City of San Francisco, Insomniac Events, Coachella, Absolut Vodka, City of Palo Alto, City of Calabasas, City of Los Altos, Stanford University, and more. Many of Charles' works have been exhibited internationally.

Skilled in manipulating metals, Charles makes copper, bronze, and steel pieces of varying dimensions and functionalities. Inspired by the objects, structures, and processes in the world around us, his art depicts natural objects in fantastic ways and realizes the potential for serendipity in everyday life. He often incorporates and develops technology for various effects in many of his projects—LEDs, flame, hydraulics, and electricity to increase the work's visual and physical impact. These effects instill a sense of joy, wonder, amazement and play into the environment.

Focused on engaging the imagination in the objects created and the method of their creation, Charles dedicates his work to increasing artistic community and public awareness of art. Many pieces are interactive, encouraging spectators to become participants in the artistic experience.

In addition to making art, his artistic practice encourages others to do so and has inspired hundreds of people to participate in art-making for multiple projects. Charles also aims to create public art that contributes to and celebrates the community and increases public interest and connection to the place and region.

website: email:

www.charlesgadeken.com art4fire@gmail.com

lighting view one

lighting view two

SQUARED mini powder coated mild steel, plastic, electronics, and magic 72" x 24" x 24" $15,000

Dianne Hoffman I have a tendency to personify inanimate objects and feel genuine compassion for those that are damaged or disregarded.

The older an object, the more haunting and alluring its ghost.

Assemblage art allows me to indulge these concepts by creating dimensional worlds of allegory where tall tales are told, jokes are cracked, emotions stirred, and poems imparted.

I like to link industrial and figurative remnants by combining complementary muted color schemes to harmonize dissimilar media. The narrative facet of each piece often derives from the variety of music I am listening to, a phrase that strikes me, or a sentiment I’d like to give a visual context to. My intent is to portray a delicate balance between light and dark by depicting the sincerity found in their unified stories.

My piece in this exhibition titled Love Eternal utilizes an artfully composed image of a kissing couple on Xray film. I created a gothic inspired frame from recycled found objects for it's illuminating lightbox. This tells a story of eternal love which ignites from the milky blue radiance of the moon but is soon mixed with otherworldly delusions of death that lend to a luminous transference intimately awakened by the dawn.

website: email:

diannehoffman.net dhoffman4art@gmail.com

Love Eternal mixed media assemblage 33" x 13" x 4" SOLD

Steve Hurst I make time-telling art for fun and for a living. I use whatever is laying around and what people leave for me and working with a plethora of textures, my found objects (drum cymbals, pot tops, jewelry, electronic parts, you name it). When incorporate remote controlled LEDs, the effect is meditative — almost ethereal. My aim is to make the most beautiful time-telling art in the world, be known for it, and make enough money to help other artists of color.

website: email:

www.stevenartclocks.com hurststeve56@gmail.com

Peaceful Sky over Turbulent Earth poplar wood, acrylic paint, pencils, gel medium, LED lighting 60" x 15" $4,750

J.L. King A sense of intimacy and tranquility is revealed as I peek into this little window, offering a moment of respite.

Urban living has deepened my curiosity of the idiosyncrasies in nature and it’s resilient creatures; this curiosity is often depicted in my work. I choose to spotlight ordinary objects in extraordinary perspectives; drawing attention to details that may otherwise be ignored. My portrayals of anonymous figures reside in scenes that reveal layers, windows, and portals into other domains. These small glimpses inspire my own wonderment and conjure up pleasurable sentiments of youth. Connecting these images is a primary focus of my art, like riddles to be solved of which the solutions are unique to each individual; ultimately revealing a personal narrative, and always with a bit of levity.

website: email:

www.jlkingart.com jleeking9@gmail.com

Forgiving Hour oil on linen 14" x 11" $800

Susan R. Kirshenbaum The idea for the Invisibility Collective and the exhibition Seen x Unseen, which included the work now shown here at Arc in the Intimacy Illuminated exhibition, was sparked by my own experience as an aging woman becoming invisible.

During the first spring of the pandemic (2020), I began to delve deeper into the invisibility concept and saw that there was a new type of invisibility that had emerged during COVID. It became evident to me that I could springboard off of my personal experiences and begin a conversation about all variations and forms invisibility. My work has always been about creating awareness – seeing ourselves and each other – as I see the world – through a feminist lens.

Once again (I have created several large hanging banner series) I began working in the medium of digitally printed fabric and I scaled this series larger than ever before, changing my drawings by multiplying and distorting the figures.The first exhibition of these panels was a rainbow of colors. This slightly smaller sequence of three hanging, vertical banners are all hot shades. They are installed in such a way that people may experience them physically. Viewers are invited to swish through the fabric panels – to gently touch and be touched by the flowing fabric with bodies emblazoned on them in seemingly impossible poses. All of the original drawings for these works were made during virtual life model sessions taking place throughout sheltering.

website: email:

www.cherrypits.net srkirshenbaum@gmail.com

See Through Us: Concealing/ Revealing (Coral Panel) digitally printed chiffon fabric, sewn & hung on acrylic rod 104" x 54" edition 1/1 $950

See Through Us: Slipping into the Abyss (Poppy Panel) digitally printed chiffon fabric, sewn & hung on acrylic rod 104" x 54" edition 1/1 $950

See Through Us: There/Not There, Here/Not There (Scarlet Panel) digitally printed chiffon fabric, sewn & hung on acrylic rod 104" x 54" edition 1/1 $950

Linda Larson Growing up in Scotland, I remember so many days when it seemed to me actual daylight was quite elusive. I would leave for school in the dark and return home from school just as night fell again. Now, years later, thriving here in the glorious Californian light, even the short winter days can generate a sparkly magical intensity that is inspiring but quite challenging to capture.

In Crepuscular, I've chosen to paint the plants I enjoy in my studio, my favorite leafy companions awash in a romantic, autumnal twilight glow. I would like in this painting to share some of the joy these familiar flowers and leaves bring me every day as we all together once again; turn our hopeful faces towards the light; for one more trip around the sun.

website: email:

www.lindalarsonart.com linda@lrlart.com

Crepuscular oil on birch 36" x 24" $1,950

Sean O'Donnell My creative process is more about the tunnel than the light at the end of it. Being totally engaged in making art pulls me into my studio each day: This is where the magic happens.

Claude Debussy’s quote informs my creations: “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” The fewer components I use in a piece, the more complete it is. My goal is finished works that achieve an austere elegant simplicity.

An additional influence, the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, accepts the transience and imperfection of all things in life.

The materials I use are left in their found state to honor the flawed and blemished beauty of their natural surfaces.

My light-handed touch assures that I preserve and respect the allure and mystique of an unknown past.

website: email:

www.seanodonnellart.com ukeschmaltz@yahoo.com

Afterglow 1960's Etch-A-Sketch mounted on silver painted birch wood panel with LED back lights 10" x 12" x 3" $400

Felipe Soltero We are all connected. I mean everything, you, me, the trees, the entire universe. This is the message that is constant through my current artistic journey. I like my work to be that intimate line that connects my viewers to my voyage without saying a word or even being physically present. In order for me to best manifest this creative vessel I use whatever it takes to achieve the desired effect therefore I don’t limit myself to just one specific type of medium. Known as a figurative artist my recent work has ventured a bit into a dark surrealistic botanical style while still invoking strong soulful emotions within. In most cases I render all of this with a combination of abstract and realistic techniques that take my work into a limitless realm of expressive possibilities thus allowing me to venture into this wonderful universe we’re all connected with.

website: email:

solteroart.wixsite.com/solteroart solteroart@gmail.com

Intimate Growth acrylic on canvas 24" x 30" $1,000

Paulette Traverso Daily art practice is my sustenance, salvation, and relief from global chaos and existential angst. Celebrating creativity in myself, in others, and in human history serves to make my life substantive, rich, and always interesting. I hope that in concretizing those feelings into art, the viewer is drawn in to examine what they see and perhaps come away themselves a bit transformed. The primal, human act of connection between the eye, the hand, and the spirit to create is the basis of my art.

When Nathalie invited me to participate in the “Intimacy Illuminated” exhibit, the first thing I did was to read the dictionary definitions. “Intimacy”: the state of being familiar, something of a personal or private nature. I then read a comment that really resonated with me: intimacy means “into me see”... add in “illumination”: the action of illuminating, spiritual or intellectual enlightenment, I began to delve into what that word pairing evokes for me.

Given the events of the last year which provided more time than ever for introspection, the idea to allow people to “see into me” through my art and the intimacy that can ensue, inspired this piece.

Intimacy that is both inward and outward, personal and collective, mysterious and magical.

website: email:

www.paulettetraverso.com pmtraverso@gmail.com

See Into Me archival print on Epson paper, painted gold orb 21" x 11" $450 edition of 5 (1/5 SOLD)

H. Momo Zhou Sensitive, emotional, sentimental and whimsical may be some of my personality, But I rely on these feelings to inspire my art work. I like things that touch me quietly and simply. Little things, things we see everyday... falling leaves, waving trees, unnamed wild flowers, fog rolling over the hilltops, a small stream passing a grassy field, crows perched on top of a ruined wall under a gray sky... They speak to me in the most pure sound of beauty. I don't really need a cry-my-eyes-out or laugh-my-ass-off kind of moment to feel emotionally inspired. I seek a feeling that might woosh past in a second. But that second of emotion combines a complex faint taste of sweetness, bitterness, happiness, and sadness. That is the precious moment that I want to capture and share. It is a kind of natural beauty that I thirst for. Not glorious or fancy, just something simple, something pure.

I think of my style and my work as a combination of romanticism, realism and impressionism.

I paint from life whenever possible and work diligently to capture its nuances. I am currently focusing on capturing figures and figures within expressive landscape settings.

website: email:

mopaintings.com hmzfineart@gmail.com

Backyard Sunset oil on board 20" x 16" $1,500

http://arc-sf.com http://arcfinearts-sf.com 1246 Folsom St. San Francisco, CA

arcgallerysf@gmail.com 415-298-7969