The Rena Bransten Gallery is proud to present new works from artists Luis Aguilera and Marci Washington.
Creative Growth artist Luis Aguilera’s vibrant drawings of figures and animals are multi-layered, personal narratives that include icons of popular culture, buses and trains, fantasy creatures, musical instruments, and portraits of his friends from the Creative Growth studio. His saturated color pallet and dramatic representations of figures and objects demonstrate a consistent vision complemented by his fusion of line, form, and color that energize and, often, abstract his imagery.
Aguilera was born in 1973 in San Salvador and has been attending Creative Growth since 1997; his work has been featured in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. For over three decades, Creative Growth Art Center has played an important role in raising awareness of artists with developmental, physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and promoting their work in the contemporary art world. Aguilera’s show will run concurrently with Create (opening May 11, 2011), an exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum highlighting works from three pioneering Bay Area art centers for artists with developmental disabilities.
Drawing from literature, film, fashion photography and historical events, Marci Washington builds a disjointed fictional narrative with connections to the past as well as to the present. Her new body of work jumps forward in time to a place made up of equal parts 1930s, 1980s and the present in order to investigate what changes and what stays the same. The title of the show For Forever I’ll be Here (a quote from a song by Fever Ray) refers to the constant inhabitant of the story – living in the walls of the house and the hearts of the characters – something that lives through time and forever influences our attempts to make the world a better place.
Washington grew up in the Bay Area and received her BFA and MFA from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. She has been the recipient of awards from both the Anderson Ranch Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. Her work has been featured in the film Jennifer’s Body (2009) and she is regularly featured in publications such as Juxtapoze Magazine and New American Paintings. This exhibit will be Washington’s second solo show with the Rena Bransten Gallery
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10:30 to 5:30, Saturdays 11 to 5. For more information, please visit our website at www.renabranstengallery.com or contact the gallery directly at (415) 982-3292.
