Getting excited for our September show! a #mashup up with artists Kevin Moore, Brett Amory, Kim Frohsin, David Choong Lee, John Wentz and Adam Forfang.

mash-up nouninformal noun: mashup a mixture or fusion of disparate elements. Slang. a creative combination or mixing of content from different sources:

MASHUP is a unique collaboration between six Bay Area painters, Kevin Moore, Brett Amory, Kim Frohsin, David Choong Lee, John Wentz, and Adam Forfang. The idea is for the six artists to meet once a month, for 6 months, at different locations around the Bay Area, chronicling the local landscape and weather as it shifts from Winter into Summer. The group makes a single, large plein air painting consisting of six different individual sections, at each location. Each painter brings a 30" x 40" canvas to the site, and paints a section of the overall scene in their own unique style. The paintings are done strictly from life, they are raw, immediate, and honest. Each location has its own "director". This means the selected artist for a particular month would have the general composition loosely worked out for everyone prior to the session. Upon arrival, the group sets up, and paints the scene in one session, start to finish. The end result is a 60" x 120" composite image of the scene, with all six canvases creating a tapestry of different styles and approaches that coalesce into a single unified whole. The following month, everyone meets again at a different location, chosen by the new "director". Every composite painting has a different composition, subject and mood depending on the weather and the artist that "directs" the scene for the day. Its an investigation in time, space, and teamwork, every painting is a new adventure.

Composite Painting #2 (February) Directed by Adam Forfang, 60x120" (6 panels, each 30x40"), all oil on canvas

Moving to Suite 210!

Please come and see our last exhibition in Suite 420 of 251 Post Street before we move permanently to Suite 210! Our group exhibition features works from our gallery artists, including: Patricia Chidlaw, Dave Lefner, Eric Zener, Kevin Moore, Alyssa Monks, Robert Townsend, Hiroshi Sato, Erin Cone and Pablo D'Antoni. 

From March 1st we will see you in Suite 210!

William Lagattuta & Robert Townsend

Hespe Gallery is pleased to announce a two-man exhibition of new work by Robert Townsend and William Lagattuta. A reception for the artists will be held on Thursday, November 7 from 5:30-7:30. The exhibition will continue through November 30, 2013.

Robert Townsend’s work explores the mystique of vintage Americana. Lustrous images of sweet delights, smooth sets of wheels, and commonplace objects and scenes of the 1950’s and 1960’s are the artists’ inspirations. Townsend was raised in LA by parents who had grown up in 1950’s Los Angeles. His fascination with the culture of this period has drawn from artists whose work equates to a very specifically Californian aesthetic: Ed Ruscha, Robert Bechtle, Wayne Thiebaud, and Ralph Goings. Townsend considers his works “pop realism”, allowing viewers to indulge in a sweet nostalgic fantasy of retro American ingenuity.

   

In imagery meant to evoke the road trips, trail markers and European adventures of youth, William Lagattuta uses arrows to point forward a seemingly directionless path. They are a guide, which exemplify the endless possibilities and directions we have to choose from when following our passions and ambitions in life. Lagatutta himself chose the path of artistry in 2007 after working as a television correspondent and anchorman for over three decades, allowing his artwork to serve as a personal quest into creatively understanding and translating the complexities of life onto tangible mediums of paint, wood, and metal.

Hespe Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by renowned American artist, Lawrence Gipe. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, October 3 from 5:30-7:30. The exhibition will continue through November 2, 2013.

Lawrence Gipe is an American Social Realist painter whose nostalgic images evoke a time of progression and uncertainty. His exploration of the aesthetic ideology of 20^th century propaganda is an attempt to re-contextualize imagery that often doesn’t bear witness to the errors of history. Working from archival images from the early to mid 1900’s, his paintings breathe life into the monochromatic subjects. The style is reminiscent of early Impressionism; layered and textured brush strokes give each piece a soft focused reality. Gipe’s atmospheric paintings not only comment on the social context from which they are borrowed, but romanticize the tumultuous times within the socio-political imagery. Gipe’s work demonstrates the complimentary relationship between art and the understanding of history.

    

Lawrence Gipe was born in Baltimore in 1962 and currently lives and works in Tucson, AZ, where he teaches painting at the University of Arizona. He has shown extensively throughout the US and abroad. His work has been featured in Art in America, ARTnews, ArtSlant, Harper’s, Artforum, The New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. His work is in the museum collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Kemper Art Museum, Norton Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Yale University Library, Boise Art Museum, Federal Reserve Board, and Rutgers University. Gipe has shown with Hespe Gallery since 2008.

To view the exhibition online, please follow this link: http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/exhibit_artist.asp?ExhibitID=200

For further information, including pricing, please contact us at 415.776.5918 or info@hespe.com.

Kim Cogan, Flotsam, September 5th-28th

Hespe Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new works by Kim Cogan. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 5, 2013 from 5:30 – 7:30 PM. The exhibition will continue until September 28, 2013.
 
San Francisco-based artist Kim Cogan drifts into an exploration of coastal landscapes in his new solo show, Flotsam. By observing the environments and structures seen along the coast, Cogan brings together the sensibilities and techniques he applied to create his atmospheric city scenes and kinetic wave paintings and seascapes.

Through his use of light, color and shadow, Cogan chooses to exaggerate a mood or overstate emotional content. “The painting is built up in several layers—some translucent, some opaque—in order to create depth,” says Cogan. “I often add or subtract details to focus the viewer on a specific area of the composition”. Cogan continues to astound with his remarkable handling of his materials and his insight into what makes a composition successful. This new body of work is his most dramatic to date, the glowing subject in stark contrast to the darkened plane of the surround. With this stylistic change, Cogan’s work takes on a haunting, ethereal quality.
 
Kim Cogan was born in Korea in 1977. He received a BFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. His work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, American Arts Quarterly, Artweek, Harper’s, American Art Collector and SF Weekly. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives and works in San Francisco. 

Hiroshi Sato August 1 - 31st

Hespe Gallery is excited to present new works by Hiroshi Sato. The exhibition runs August 1 - 31, 2013, with an opening reception on Thursday, August 1, 2013 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Hiroshi Sato’s new works explore the idea of contentment. The viewer is invited to experience the immediate moment, to allow ones self to be present in a feeling or environment. The seaside, with the ocean’s ability to captivate the viewer, is the perfect metaphor to convey this concept. Gazing out at the infinite sea provides moments of contemplation and lulls us into a state that is as perpetual as the rolling waves. In the presence of such great beauty, we are reminded of our relationship to our surroundings. Sato also examines the premise of a duality underlying our psyches by using a graphic element that is representative of the conscious and subconscious self. These layers both conceal and expose, aiding in the sense of mystery and depth of feeling. At age 25, Sato already possesses an original artistic signature that transcends the boundaries of both academic and contemporary art.

Sato was recently named one of 21 artists under 30 to watch by Southwest Art Magazine. He is currently enrolled in the MFA program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he recently completed his BFA. This will be Sato’s second solo exhibition at Hespe Gallery. The exhibition will take place in Suite 210 of 251 Post Street.

Eric Zener's new works in resin opens Thursday!

Zener’s work explores the essence of a baptismal surround; the figures suspended in cerulean abstraction, effervescent bubbles cutting through the viridian abyss. For the viewer, these works express the true sensation of immersion as both a physical, mental, and spiritual experience. The water’s ability to caress and uplift the human body has fascinated him; the psychological effects that buoyancy offers have provided Zener with great inspiration and clarity. 

The works are created starting with gold or silver leaf on panel, with the image then built up using resin and photo transfer. He then alternates between resin and ink. This layering process adds to the richness of his underwater scenes, giving the artistic plane incredible depth of color and composition.