New works by: Jhina Alvarado, Sergio Navarro-Duran, Rockford Orvin, Tim Schafer
Opening Reception: May 5th, 2011 5pm – late

Jhina Alvarado

Jhina Alvarado is a Mexican- Korean artist who expresses herself using oil and encaustic wax.  She is a self-taught artist and holds a masters’ degree in math education and a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies. Jhina, a native Californian, has lived in San Francisco since 1994 where she paints full-time while also teaching pre-calculus and advanced algebra at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.

In my series, titled “Forgotten Memories”, I use oil paints to depict the untold stories from long forgotten photographs. I paint these images on wood panels using a considerable amount of white space with the images cropped out of their environment, creating a sense of unbalance and emphasizing the need to focus on the individual’s memory, rather than the whole picture. White areas from the images blend with the negative spaces of the panel to create tension and abstraction of each delineated line. Since many memories are shared, the identity of the person within each memory is inconsequential. The eyes are blocked out so that the viewer can take part of each memory as if it were their own. The painting is then covered in encaustic wax to add an antique photo look and dream-like feel to each piece. Because many memories are unclear and somewhat “fuzzy”, the wax also obscures the images as if the viewer, themselves, were trying to recall a past event, yet could not remember all of the details.

I started this series because it made me sad to see so many old photographs sold in thrift stores and flea markets or thrown away, as if the memories no longer mattered, the events recorded no longer important. This series is my attempt to resurrect these memories in a contemporary way.

Sergio Navarro-Duran

Sergio Navarro-Duran is a Colombian-born Graphic Artist based in San Francisco, California, a city that has been greatly inspiring for his latest work. Since his early days of design school he discovered his affinity and interest in “manual” illustration (pre-digital era) and the extent of applications this field had to offer. However, ink, -or the reign of carving shadows- seems to be an early and recurrent creativity channel in the artist’s journeys through his psyche. In most of his hand strokes there is an undeniable appeal for the human subject.

“American Indigenous culture has been a major drive for my current artistic channel. A view away from the classical European academic art, my work embraces the “art” that was being done long before 1492. An art that wasn’t art in the first place, since it wasn’t being done for the sole vain purpose of embellishment, but instead for the purpose of self-identity through an image. This is the first of all languages. The powerful mixture of balanced graphical order and symmetry in both buildings and objects of all sorts, as well as imagery, is in itself a remarkable achievement. It must have been incredible to live in a time where being an artist was an actual respected social position… no universities, no trends. Unadulterated from-the-ground-up thought. Graphic standards that came from instinct, not a class room or a movement, the openness of such spirit are the essence I celebrate in my work.”

Rockford Orvin

Life is bold. It moves forward without permission or consideration of the person involved; and like a sudden gust of wind, it sweeps you off your feet for better or worse. And, true to character, Life is full of contradictions. My art carries a similar attitude. Each piece has a mind of its own, speaking good or bad to whomever it encounters. On canvas, I grab the moments of Life that I believe embrace beauty, simplicity, and truth.

This Black & White show reveals that simplistic beauty of Life. The high contrast, sharp line, and photorealistic depiction creates a view that is raw and direct. Some subjects are posed, some are spontaneous, but all the images render the idea that life can be seen for just what it is. Sometimes, color can be blinding.

Tim sChafer

This body of work is a continuation of an ongoing series of graphite drawings that isolates it’s subject matter by removing all elements of background or foreground in order focus on the direct relationship between the subject and the space around it.  I primarily use images from photographs found online and occasionally from photographs I take myself, either way, the original image has something I deem note worthy. By removing all the excess information from the photograph and recreating the subject within a vacant space a certain amount of importance is bestowed upon the subject. Through the use of the image’s negative space, the seriousness of the subject is paired with a questioning of it’s relevance.

Tim L sChafer lives and works in California.

New works by: Jhina Alvarado, Sergio Navarro-Duran, Rockford Orvin, Tim Schafer
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Jhina Alvarado

Jhina Alvarado is a Mexican- Korean artist who expresses herself using oil and encaustic wax.  She is a self-taught artist and holds a masters’ degree in math education and a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies. Jhina, a native Californian, has lived in San Francisco since 1994 where she paints full-time while also teaching pre-calculus and advanced algebra at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.

In my series, titled “Forgotten Memories”, I use oil paints to depict the untold stories from long forgotten photographs. I paint these images on wood panels using a considerable amount of white space with the images cropped out of their environment, creating a sense of unbalance and emphasizing the need to focus on the individual’s memory, rather than the whole picture. White areas from the images blend with the negative spaces of the panel to create tension and abstraction of each delineated line. Since many memories are shared, the identity of the person within each memory is inconsequential. The eyes are blocked out so that the viewer can take part of each memory as if it were their own. The painting is then covered in encaustic wax to add an antique photo look and dream-like feel to each piece. Because many memories are unclear and somewhat “fuzzy”, the wax also obscures the images as if the viewer, themselves, were trying to recall a past event, yet could not remember all of the details.

I started this series because it made me sad to see so many old photographs sold in thrift stores and flea markets or thrown away, as if the memories no longer mattered, the events recorded no longer important. This series is my attempt to resurrect these memories in a contemporary way.

Sergio Navarro-Duran

Sergio Navarro-Duran is a Colombian-born Graphic Artist based in San Francisco, California, a city that has been greatly inspiring for his latest work. Since his early days of design school he discovered his affinity and interest in “manual” illustration (pre-digital era) and the extent of applications this field had to offer. However, ink, -or the reign of carving shadows- seems to be an early and recurrent creativity channel in the artist’s journeys through his psyche. In most of his hand strokes there is an undeniable appeal for the human subject.

“American Indigenous culture has been a major drive for my current artistic channel. A view away from the classical European academic art, my work embraces the “art” that was being done long before 1492. An art that wasn’t art in the first place, since it wasn’t being done for the sole vain purpose of embellishment, but instead for the purpose of self-identity through an image. This is the first of all languages. The powerful mixture of balanced graphical order and symmetry in both buildings and objects of all sorts, as well as imagery, is in itself a remarkable achievement. It must have been incredible to live in a time where being an artist was an actual respected social position… no universities, no trends. Unadulterated from-the-ground-up thought. Graphic standards that came from instinct, not a class room or a movement, the openness of such spirit are the essence I celebrate in my work.”

Rockford Orvin

Life is bold. It moves forward without permission or consideration of the person involved; and like a sudden gust of wind, it sweeps you off your feet for better or worse. And, true to character, Life is full of contradictions. My art carries a similar attitude. Each piece has a mind of its own, speaking good or bad to whomever it encounters. On canvas, I grab the moments of Life that I believe embrace beauty, simplicity, and truth.

This Black & White show reveals that simplistic beauty of Life. The high contrast, sharp line, and photorealistic depiction creates a view that is raw and direct. Some subjects are posed, some are spontaneous, but all the images render the idea that life can be seen for just what it is. Sometimes, color can be blinding.

Tim sChafer

This body of work is a continuation of an ongoing series of graphite drawings that isolates it’s subject matter by removing all elements of background or foreground in order focus on the direct relationship between the subject and the space around it.  I primarily use images from photographs found online and occasionally from photographs I take myself, either way, the original image has something I deem note worthy. By removing all the excess information from the photograph and recreating the subject within a vacant space a certain amount of importance is bestowed upon the subject. Through the use of the image’s negative space, the seriousness of the subject is paired with a questioning of it’s relevance.

Tim L sChafer lives and works in California.