FORT BIG MOUNTAIN | March Exhibit

New Works by Christopher Russell and Seth Armstrong
March 4 – March 27, 2010

111 Minna Gallery is proud to present “Fort Big Mountain”, an exhibition  showcasing new works by Oakland, CA painters Christopher Russell and Seth Armstrong. The exhibition will run from March 4-27, 2010. The exhibition has been curated by for the 111 Minna Gallery by Curator Gabe Scott with assistance from 111 Minna Gallery Curator Jay Howell.

ARTISTIC HIGHLIGHTS
Through his paintings, Christopher Russell explores his personal perceptions and connections with the natural world by ‘painting outside from within’. Russell’s images of nature communicate his reverence for nature, a ‘reverence tempered by notions of disconnection and disillusionment’. His landscapes are based both on his physical experiences as well as an alternate narrative based on fantasy and imagination. The fantasy is incorporated as an exaggeration of a real experience, allowing Russell to invent a new landscape that is based on the idea or experience of a place rather than sit in front of it in order to capture its essence. Christopher was raised in Boulder, CO, attended the California College of the Arts and is based in Oakland, CA.

Seth Armstrong, another former CCA student displays a compulsion to juxtapose hyper-realistic re-creations of his surroundings with various fantastical segments of his imagination. The resulting narratives contain elements of drama, mystery and humor that “accentuate the theatrical and fictitious characteristics believed to be apparent in everyday life”. He feels that “the actions of the subjects and the circumstances of their environments are often vague, only hinting at the events that are inherently taking place”.  Seth was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Oakland, CA.
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