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.

San Francisco — 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 gallery will be hosting an ARTIST-ATTENDED opening reception on Thursday, March 4, 2010, 5pm-late.

The opening is free and open to members of the public 21 and over. 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.

The artists of “Freak of Nature” adopt natural imagery as a central point of inquiry in their work. Expressions of human, plant, animal, insect life and landscape range from the realistic, mutated, beautiful, cliché, surreal, psychedelic, romantic and kitsch. This reflects a range of responses to the current sentiment of ecological disaster and genetic modification; including appreciation of the elegance of natural forms as well as disenchantment with environmentalist ideals. The use of visual references to science textbooks and commercial illustration are utilized to comment on the commoditization of natural life as an abstract entity to
be manipulated.

November 6-29, 2008
Conceptualized by Lisa Ostanpinski
Co-curated by Lisa Ostapinski and Gabe Scott

These artists investigate the interaction between humans and the environment including both reverence and destruction of the natural world. This highlights the contemporary complexity of human response and interpretation of nature as well as global environmental crises. Many of the artists in “Freak of Nature” celebrate the inherent beauty of natural imagery as well as ask the viewer to consider the current implications of human lifestyle choices. In this context, the expression “Freak of Nature” serves both as a metaphor for the anomalous expression of nature as well as reference to consequences of human interference.

Artists:
Allison Kendall
Amanda Smith
Alexis Mackenzie
Henry Gunderson
Colleen Sanders
Andrew Schoultz
Hilary Pecis
Lisa Ostapinski
Hannah Stouffer
Casey Jex Smith
Josh Keyes
Jacob Tillman
Christopher Russell
Matthew Hart