Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404
Ph: 310/829-2156
E-Mail: www.copronason.com
What: Joe Vaux's "Manimal" - Dan May's "Slow Collision"
Opening Reception, Saturday February 7 - 8:00 - 11:30 p.m.
Dates: Exhibit runs - February 7 - February 28, 2009
Contact: Gary Pressman, Gallery Director Copro Gallery
In gallery 1 - Joe Vaux's "Manimal" which is the title of a forgettable 80's television show and the name of the beast that lives within us all. Joe says "I'm driven by an inner behemoth, attacking projects with a nervous cornered animal kind of enthusiasm. This collection of 23 paintings represents the past year's efforts to hear and share this creatures vision". Be kind and feed the manimal.
Joe Vaux Bio:
.....A product of two artists, I was always surrounded by an abundance of art materials and inspiration. Whether working with pencil, paint, Styrofoam or Lego I found ways to make my fantasy worlds a bit more real.
After receiving a B.F.A. in illustration at Syracuse University in 1994, I moved to California and began working in the animation industry. I refer to these years as graduate school, continuing to learn from some of the animation world's top artistic talent. It was during this time that I refined my voice as a painter.
..... Although my influences and abilities have grown, my imagery seems to grow out of an adolescent's sensibility. Strange environments and absurd characters are the players in a demented adaptation of my life story. I hope that within the madness the viewer will find the comedy that is our existence.
Dan May
In gallery 2 the debut solo exhibition of new paintings by Dan May , entitled "Slow Collision” . The conception, occurring in the artist's Atlanta GA studio, consisted of a series of intuitive movements, drawing his hand through various hues and draping them inquisitively acrosswood panels. Dan's work was challenged midway through the year-long experience; when he had to move to Jacksonville , FL. It would be here that the encounter of import would occur. In the artists own words, "the title for the show, came to me when recalling not only the images that were coming into my head, but what was going on in my life at the time. The past year has been filled with highs, lows and turbulence of varying degrees. I began to take a deeper look not only within myself, but within the world that I have been creating. There seemed to be a collision of sorts going on. In the new work there's the technical elements that I've been known to use throughout the past few years... grassy flora filled landscapes, transparent figures, am orphic creatures (both smooth and furry), sweeping brush strokes and fine details however in this series of paintings I tried to mesh those elements together creating a cohesive, poetic landscape of colliding worlds... thus, a 'Slow Collision' ", and with that Dan boldly strides into his blip on the event horizon.
