exhibitions
 
Current Exhibition and Events

Layers



OCCCA, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
is pleased to present the exhibition LAYERS,
Curated by Andrea Moni
Guest Artists: Jenny Yurshansky & Jon Ng,
With Annie Clavel, Andrea Moni, Becky Black,
Beverly Jacobs, Carolyn Yarnell, Debra Vodhanel,
Gina Genis, Jeffrey Frisch, Rich Bohn
, Robin & Robert Repp, & Tom Lamb

Dates: June 3 - June 24, 2023 Gallery hours: Fridays to Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.

Opening Reception: Saturday June 3 from 6:00-10:00 pm

360 degree tour of the exhibition


Closing Reception: Saturday June 24 from 3:00-5:00 pm



About the guest artists

Jenny Yurshansky
“My practice is deeply informed by being a refugee who was born stateless. Through a community oriented approach to research, I explore the trauma of displacement and interrogate notions of belonging and otherness within the frames of landscape, historical documents, and social constructs.
Formally, this manifests as absence, loss, or erasure. My long-term projects are intertwined narratives that utilize various materials such as cast, slumped, and found glass, charred steel, MDF manipulated to simulate antique display cases, embroidered textiles, hand-cut paper silhouettes of plants, laser etched granite, photographic installations, and writing. Developing these pieces requires intensive investigation through interviews and site visits to share the nuances of the stories of generations of migrants. My exhibitions revolve around public engagements and workshops offering the public opportunities to share, discuss, and exchange. I am a decentered facilitator who fosters connections between participants through somatic, visual, and written storytelling. These gatherings allow us to get to know one another in a way that allows us to be humans with nuance and specificity and to see one another through our stories, discovering the links between personal histories, the arc of socio-political events, and their impacts on our lives.”
Website: http://www.jennyyurshansky.com/

Jon Ng: “Fighter Series”
“The Figure has always been a subject that engages our senses, our mind, and our spirit. I am interested in the gesture and pose of a figure, as a means of exploring its character. In the 'Fighter' paintings, I examine possible traits while visualizing their potential form. Then develop cues that might suggest a motivation, or an emotion, behind the action. In the painting process, I typically transfer my drawing to the canvas over a color ground. I like to use a medium value red with a warm temperature. Over the drawn image on the canvas I will delineate edges with a thinned out raw umber. After confirming my composition, I will continue using the raw umber to block out shapes and begin to establish my value ranges. Next, I will use white to establish the higher end of the value range. From this point I will proceed to glaze in my colors.
Website: https://www.jonng.net/

About the exhibition

The collective art exhibition "LAYERS" explores the concept of layers, and how artists transmit their unique perspectives by employing a variety of layering techniques such as glazing, collage, encaustic, assemblage, photomontage, and stacking.
The word “Layer” has often been used to describe a technique used by artists to create depth in their work. Layering approaches in art-making provide intriguing and distinctive outcomes. Historically, painters glazed multiple layers of paint on canvas to achieve dimension. In the 1960s, layer painting became a type of "process" art that developed through the 1970s as abstract, and later advanced with greater complexities. Today, layering includes materials other than paint. The result is described as mixed-media, a method that engages more than one material to create a finished piece.
In “Layers” artist Jon Ng’s emotional portraits demonstrate the classical glazing technique building depth and interest by layering color glazes. Becky Black produces rich and mysterious paintings by applying layer upon layer of encaustic paint to a wood canvas. Utilizing torches to blend and fuse the layers, Becky achieves paintings that contain natural depth with translucent beauty. Artists Debra Vondhanel, Annie Clavel, and Evalynn Alu add complexity and richness to their pieces by blending several mediums and textures, progressively building up an image by adding new components as each coat dries. They paint from their imaginations and emotions, combining a variety of nuanced colors, a multitude of diverse brush strokes, and alternating textures. The layers are built up and broken down creating unique effects on the surfaces. Three-dimensional artists including Rich Bohn, Beverly Jacobs, and Jeffrey Frisch literally build their layered assemblages to express their points of view, combining wood, clay, and surfaces such as metal to complete their pieces. For contemporary photographers, layers have become an integral feature in their work. Layers are used to combine two or more images, separate elements, or apply changes to one specific layer. At times, the layers can be literal, simply representing a part of a picture. Environmental photographer Tom Lamb highlights the earth’s natural layers created over time to create beautiful abstract photographs that champion environmental awareness through the anomalies of his images. Photographic layers can also be stacked, merged, or defined in order to create the desired message. Gina Genis’s Convergence series explores the tension between humanity and nature. She layers images of natural beauty with man-made environments, posing the question, “What are we willing to destroy in exchange for what will be replaced with?” The collaborative team of Robert and Robin Repp begin their layering process with slides that were scanned into digital images, creating a whole new image. The digitized images are then layered on top of each other with various transparencies and become transformed into a newly imagined landscape.
The term Layer is not always literal. Symbolically, colors and brushstrokes match the emotions and feelings at the time of creation. These narratives are represented through vivid colors, words, and hidden gems sharing elements of the human journey. In the sensitive sculptures by artist Jenny Yurshansky, layers are utilized to convey notions regarding identity, interpersonal relationships, as well as societal structures, and social behavior. Her work expresses her family’s history of displacement and loss.
The pieces presented in this exhibition share elements of the human journey filled with emotions and life experiences making each work feel familiar and relatable, yet exciting. Looking around one realizes that everything is made up of layers and it is the layers that make everything …layer by layer. Clearly stated by Japanese designer, author, and educator Naoto Fukazawa, “Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment”.



Andrea Moni

Jenny Yurshansky

 


 

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
117 N. Sycamore St., Santa Ana, CA 92701 www.occca.org
Begun by artists in 1980 with exhibitions free to the public, OCCCA, the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, is an all-volunteer, artist-run 501(c)3 non-profit gallery located in the heart of Santa Ana Artists Village. Contact info.occca@gmail.com for further information.

 

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