Copro Gallery presents "Motherland" Annie Owens latest body of work inspired by the nagging desire to connect with her roots and the various encounters along the way. Here represented, are pictorial encounters with a great aunt's hair exaggerated by the passing of time, the daily sarcastic mocking of crows, a wary seamstress or the excavations into humid southern origins. An affinity for old creaky houses stems from an early admiration of the stylings of Edward Gorey, Charles Addams and early Tim Burton animations. The nurturing mother is symbolized by the figure of a house, a thread which runs rampant in much of Annie's work where the house is often shown as the iconic figure and not as background and often depicted floating through the air, ragged roots trailing behind. This is evident in the series "Dear Dario," a tribute to Dario Argento's film trilogy which loosely represents the Three Mothers otherwise known as the three graces or three evil witches: "Mother of Tears", "Mother of Sighs" and "Mother of Shadows".
Accompanying the paintings are "Dreams in the Witch House", two 2 -3 ft tall "floating" suspended houses built from balsa, paper and wood. These houses are named after the Lovecraft short story and are also the result of Annie's obsession with house. They are painted entirely black, inspired by black and stifling colonial houses in Salem. Architecturally inspired by the shotgun house style whose origins began Haiti.
Annie is also co-founder of Hi-Fructose art magazine. Born in Alabama and raised between the Philippines and San Francisco she studied film production before a divergent path came to a rest in publishing and art. Annie lives in Richmond, California with her partner-in-crime-husband, Attaboy.
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'THE ACE IS WILD" group art exhibition; Mu Pan - John Haverty - Richard Kirk
Three artists - Mu Pan, John Haverty and Richard Kirk show us what they can do with a ballpoint pen, ink, watercolor, a few brushes and some paper. A very unique show with some drawings up to 12 feet in length!
Mu Pan - Born 1976 in Taiwan as a child of a military family his favorite artistic subjects are the history of China mixed with fantastic terror scenarios of warriors fighting with dogs, frogs and other strange-animal-human mutations. It brings to mind characters from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch in a disjointed modern world. For more info visit www.MuPan.com
John Haverty -
John was born in Boston, Massachusetts,but travelled through thirty-four countries on five continents before his twenty-third birthday. He states that these experiences abroad helped shape and influence the diverse body of work that he currently illustrates and paints."When it comes to art-making, both my process and subject matter are inspired by what I am deeply afraid of. I despise the dark, but am a nocturnal worker. Solitude unsettles me, but I deliberately work in lonely environments. Much of the imagery in my work has a nautical feel, yet I have an irrational fear of water, with all of its mystery, its alien creatures, the threat of drowning to death. Paper is the space in which I feel most free to confront, explore, even play with these taboo fascinations.
Richard Kirk - is a visual artist, illustrator, and author living in Canada. He actively shows in Canada, USA and Europe, and has works in many private collections throughout the world. He has illustrated works by Clive Barker, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Christopher Golden, China Mieville, and others. Richard created the artwork for the eighth CD by the rock band Korn.
Richard was born in Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire in 1962. He moved to Canada with his family in 1968, settling in Southwestern Ontario. Richard was always interested in drawing and through the years has found inspiration in nature, literature, art, and illustrators of the 19th and 20th century. For more info visit Richard's Blog |
