Through the influence of both eastern and western cultures, philosophies, and practices, Ted creates paintings that explore the transitory nature of landscape. Drawing from his background and experience in eastern culture he uses industrial materials such as steel, aluminum, acids, and automotive enamel to create landscapes that simultaneously feel strong and illusive. The austere nature of his materials are softened and rendered into contemplative spaces.

Using sumi ink and rice paper each piece is begun employing a chance driven process based on a traditional style of Chinese landscape painting. The monk Wong Mo pioneered this method (the Pomo method) during the T’iang dynasty (618- 906 AD). To this foundation he adds various combinations of painting methods that include, but are not limited to, the use of acrylic paint, epoxy glazes and automotive paint to create a hybrid of Eastern and Western techniques. With the addition of other elements such as the bar codes, binary codes and geometric shapes, the modern is persuaded to co-exist with the ancient. The combination of the abstract organic spaces created by the ink, and the more formal modern elements, helps coerce a visual dialogue between nature and its filtration through technology. In doing so, Ted dissects ideas of censorship, diversion, and manipulation, which are themes that he continues to explore.This work manifested after an intensive study of landscape painting in China in 2000.

A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Ted is 35, lives in Gainesville, and when not in his studio he can be found riding or fixing his bikes and small engine vehicles.

San Francisco’s 111 Minna Gallery presents the United Sates debut of Brazil’s Claudio Ethos with great enthusiasm as the artist comes off of sold out shows in Europe and South America. While a stop in NYC is on the calendar for 2009, the famous street surrealist of Sao Paolo brings an impressive collection of drawings, paintings and installations through San Francisco in order to formally introduce himself to American audiences.

Serena Cole

Creates beautifully haunting imagery incorporating the lost gazes of fashionistas frozen in a moment of fantastical escapism. Within these portraits, the constructs of high art and fashion are re-examined in an elaborate deception between a broad sense of idealized beauty synonymous with contemporary pop culture and a desire for the sublime. The work hypothesizes that the result of a life spent in the pursuance of vanity ultimately leads to isolation, sadness and alienation. Her investigation into various forms of conceptual and stylized beauty through colored pencil, gold leaf and watercolor prompt the viewer to be captivated by the eyes in each picture as if examining oneself in the mirror.
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JOHN WENTZ, a Bay Area artist, features grey-scale illustrations of post-apocalyptical scenes transforming iconic scenes of childhood by punctuating the atmosphere with vintage superheroes.

ANDREW HEM, the exhibition’s sole Los Angeles artist, portrays thoughtful hipster geishas against the backdrop of iconic landmarks and exposes the urban landscape as fresh, real and complex.

SETH ARMSTRONG is a Bay Area artist whose painting layer diverse urban and exotic landscapes populated with citizens and tourists masquerading as nondescript superheroes.

BRETT AMORY, a San Francisco-based artist, tackles the cacophony and estranged anonymity of urban life in his “Waiting” and “Passport” series and collection of new works.