As an added twist, the Bower team has also created an impromptu guest quarters in its gallery space, essentially flip-flopping the space’s intended public purpose by inviting various out-of-town artists and curators to spend a night surrounded by “Bowerhouse” art.
In her small-scale oil paintings, San Francisco-based artist Prest creates intriguing two-dimensional optical illusions. By carefully choosing her color palette and cleverly manipulating basic geometric form, Prest’s simple visual pranks effectively suggest imaginary internal landscapes. Like Prest, Chicago-based painter Saxe regularly invents fantastical environments, but her aesthetic leans toward very formal, object-oriented, less-abstracted
| BOWERHOUSE Opening reception 6-9pm Saturday, July 12 Through August 30 By appt only Free The Bower 1114 S. St. Mary’s, Bldg 1, Ste 200 535-3302 (Michael Velliquette) or thebower-gallery@hotmail.com |
manifestations of space. She focuses on the overtly domestic pop elements of the home – interior design, furniture, and architecture. Her “Bowerhouse” series is comprised of interior and exterior images of the Bower, e-mailed to her over the past few months.
Lastly, Brooklyn-based Sullivan employs the unlikely medium of quilting – a traditionally feminine, strongly domestic activity – to patch together homespun, yet slightly disturbed preadolescent dioramas. He sews his detailed, hand-colored pencil drawings of trees sprouting forts, platforms, and strange appendages onto muslin, creating a puffy, two-dimensional reality from a totally imagined mindscape. •
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2003.