January 5 - 28, 2012

THE LAURA RUSSO GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT:

Marlene Bauer : Sequence - Recent Paintings

Gina Wilson : Clay Works - Recent Ceramics

OPENING RECEPTION:
First Thursday January 5, 2012
First Thursday Hours, 5-8pm


Marlene Bauer


Marlene Bauer
Pitch    2011
acrylic, ink, graphite on canvas
20" x 24"

Marlene Bauer’s paintings combine precisely arranged color with elusive sketches from the artist’s observations, creating an enigmatic language of unique experience and inhabited space. More akin to poetic expression than visual representation, Bauer’s synesthetic works are both intensely personal and evocatively accessible—an alternative language that is instinctive but unspoken. Revealing the complex relationship between individual experience and artistic creation, Bauer’s paintings recall the desire for an intuitive and unconstrained interaction with one’s surroundings. Meaningful but freely defined, image fragments coalesce into a cohesive entity, as individual words create the space and substance of a poem.

A Northwest native, Marlene Bauer received her BFA in 1976 from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Since that time she has exhibited her work throughout the Northwest while teaching art as an associate professor at Marylhurst University. Her work is in private and public collections along the West coast including the Portland Art Museum, Oregon Health & Science University, Safeco Corp., and Seattle Arts Commission. Public commissions include a columnar mosaic for the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, WA, and most recently, projects for public libraries in Portland and Troutdale, OR.

More examples by Marlene Bauer


Gina Wilson



Gina Wilson
Quidnunc    2011
hand built ceramic with clay slip
12.75 "x 5.75" x 5"

In her most recent show, Gina Wilson explores the possibilities of hand built ceramics, translating the distinctive lines and figures of her paintings to the earthy and substantial dimension of clay. Those reminiscent figures discover the playfulness of the human form, the many shapes and sizes in which humanity can be found. Enigmatic poses and funny, faint memories are parts of the evolving process. The imagery is worked back upon itself until there is a mature yet primitive beauty to it, complementary to the medium in which it is etched. As flexible as the figures themselves, the ideas suggested by the works begin in one place, and end up in another, allowing for a variety of diffuse and equivocal readings.

Originally from Chicago, Gina Wilson has had work exhibited in the Chicago Public Library, the Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum in 1989 and 1991, the University of Oregon, and the Seattle Art Museum. Her work is in private and public collections including the Portland Art Museum, Portland State University, The Tin House, Stoel Rives LLP, and Harsch Investment Corporation, as well as a commissioned mural for the city of Beaverton, Oregon.

More examples by Gina Wilson