Artist Spotlight: Ellen Starr's "Natural Selections"

Ellen Starr, La Mesa Fig Trees, Water soluble oil on canvas, 21.5 x 25.5"

Ellen Starr is drawn to nature as a subject for various reasons. She finds it spiritually refreshing while simultaneously emotionally and intellectually stimulating. Her newest exhibition, Natural Selections, finds Starr sharing her love of the organic with the viewer, engrossing us in natural habitats and lush ecosystems.

Ellen Starr, Mngrove Heron, Water soluble oil on canvas, 19.5 x 19.5"

Nature’s endless variety stimulates the artist. “I love the challenge of organizing its visual complexity. The splash of sunlight on a leaf, the crisscross of stems and branches, the silhouettes of purple shadows -these are all elements that I can manipulate and interpret with the help of canvas and water soluble oil paint,” says Starr.

Ellen Starr, Fiji Hiking View, Water soluble oil on canvas, 19.5 x 25"

Natural Selections balances various elements of composition - line, shape, dark, light, texture, color - in order to create an equilibrium that satisfies the artist’s aesthetic sense. Starr enjoys finding logic in disorder, seeing beauty in the intricate, and to make confusion understandable. “I care deeply about many subjects and it is the desire to communicate my personal perceptions that moves me to produce art.”

Ellen Starr, Bel Air Beach Club, Water soluble oil on canvas, 19.5 x 25.5"

Ellen's work will be on exhibition until Saturday, February 18.
Join Ellen, Boris Litvinov, and Joan Horsfall Young at an Artist Panel Discussion Saturday, February 11, 3pm.

Artist Spotlight: Joan Horsfall Young's "On Water"

Joan Horsfall Young, L504 Sunset Over the Water, Oil on linen, 12 x 12"

In her latest exhibition at TAG Gallery, Joan Horsfall Young explores the earth’s most sacred natural resource: water. Our precious commodity is becoming increasingly scarce. Have we taken it for granted? Are we being punished for not paying homage to it? 

Joan Horsfall Young, G162 Making Waves, Oil on linen, 20 x 16"

In On Water, Young synthesizes these ideas with quotes from ancient and contemporary writers and transmutes them into paintings that document the beauty and utility of our delicate resource. Social gatherings on the still waterfront, the power of the ocean’s mighty waves, and the tenderness of a romantic moment reflected on a shimmering lake are all documented in Young’s canvases as testament to the might and versatility of water.

Joan Horsfall Young, L486 Tide Pools, Oil on linen, 8 x 10"

Suppose a tide came only once every fifty years. What a flurry of excitement there would be. Imagine the scramble to pay the price of admission to witness such an event. 

Joan Horsfall Young, Bathers On the Beach, Oil on linen, 24 x 30"

Water is good; it benefits all things

So let us give nature a chance…

She knows her business better then we do.

The exhibition runs through February 18.

Meet Joan at the Artist's Reception, Saturday January 28, 5-8pm

or at the Artist Panel, Saturday February 11, 3pm

Current Exhibition: Joan Horsfall Young, Ellen Starr and Boris Litvinov

Tuesday Jan 24 - Saturday Feb 18, 2017

Reception:
Sat., Jan 28, 5-8 pm

Artist Panel
Sat., Feb 11, 3 pm

Boris Litvinov - Meditations In Stone

Boris Litvinow, Femme Triste, Translucent Utah orange alabaster mounted on African zebrawood, 8 x 5 x 5'

Ellen Starr - Natural Selections

Ellen Starr, Vasquez Rocks, Water soluble oil on canvas, 21 x 31"

Joan Horsfall Young - On Water

Joan Horsfall Young, L500 Cloud Reflections, Oil on linen, 12 x 12"