"The Flow" oil on panel. 24 by 48 inches
If you are feeling the need to be inspired by a painter, try visiting the quaint town of Larkspur, California, just north of San Francisco. Gallery Bergelli (in Larkspur) has an exhibition, “A Survey of Paintings,” which features fifteen new works “investigating notions of transcendence, moments in collective popular culture, and sharable life realities” by Bay Area artist John McNamara. McNamara, who is also an art professor at the University of California (Berkeley), paints these eye-poppingly intricate surrealist photocollages.
Incorporating photographic and other found imagery into his paintings, the artist creates complex narratives which will transfix your eyes and make your head spin. Interestingly, McNamara does not work directly with the found images, nor rely upon digitally copying/altering the material. Instead, he meticulously re-paints each images. McNamara says, “For me, collage is a time machine of sorts. The painted skin on top jettisons the photo document into the world of painting; but these people, places and things still speak from underneath the painted skin.”
“A Survey of Paintings” will be showing at Gallery Bergelli through March 7, 2012.
"Futility" oil on panel 20 by 30 inches
(left) "Pablo and Jackson" oil on panel 24 by 24 inches (right) "Empathy" oil on panel 30 by 20 inches
"Solitude" oil/paper on board 48 by 60, inches
"Tug Of War" oil on panel, 24 by 48 inches
*Images taken from Gallery Bergelli.
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