JUNE 14 – 2013
RECEPTION 5-8pm
Premier artists Lilliana Braico, Mark Brava, Chris Brava & Audrey Lynne Cook, come together for the first time
Come and Experience this historic collection of work now available for acquisition.
Also on exhibit will be the trailer to Charles Shaw’s documentary, “Exile Nation: The Plastic People”, featuring the photography of Chris Brava
Bios
Audrey Lynne Cook
My earliest focus was surrealism. I was drawn to mystical, etherial elements of life, often choosing to evoke a feeling both spiritual yet sensually human.
I’ve been inspired by the shifting realities of Escher, and the voluptuous style of Hans Bellmer. I am equally moved by Maxfield Parrish’s painstaking buildup of color, and the immediacy of the impressionists.
My sculpture is largely influenced by the simplicity of art deco– in particular Edouard Marcel Sandoz– Egyptian Art, and the decorative symbolism of Nouveau artist, Gustav Klimt.
My sculptural forms tend toward fluid, solitary iconography, which maintain subtlety of motion and emotion.In my two dimensional work there is often an element of story telling, which may be an expression of dreams or moods.
Experimenting with different mediums and methods of expression has been a long process of coming to terms with who I am as an artist and an individual.
Cats are intriguing to me, which isn’t surprising, since they play such a mysterious and iconic role in history. In ancient Egypt, they were revered as sacred beings and protectors, especially in the city of Bubastis where large festivals were held in their honor. The Goddess Bastet was often depicted in feline form; sometimes as a warring lioness. She was also connected to the moon, and associated with love, sex, and music.
Several ancient religions believed that Cats were exalted, all knowing companions to humans, but were mute so they couldn’t influence human decision making; Seafarers kept them not only to keep rats at bay, but some believed they could foresee the weather and that they were good luck charms.
Superstitions about them having nine lives or the bad luck of black cat crossing path, probably started in the dark ages when it was believed they were capable of black magic and were burned at the stake along with their masters who were believed to be witches. My objective in Cat sculpture, is to make them feel like undomesticated, larger than life Icons — sometimes with the engaging qualities of a house cat.
Horses
Horses for me, represent sensuality–physical and uninhibited; horses have been connected to
humans in a reciprocal, co-dependent relationship throughout time. As a child I perceived them
as all powerful and magical–yet utterly approachable, doglike companions; a savior to spirit me
away from the life I led. It was all I wished and hoped for, but never experienced. By the time I
was of an age to move toward this goal, my passion toward that reality diminished, as I
discovered boys.
Still horses are larger than life in my reality; there’s an Iconic quality in them that never got
tarnished by the reality of having one.
In my sculpture, behind the magic there’s always an element of human emotion showing through.
Doors
It has come to my attention that whenever there has been the occurrence of a difficult passage
way in my life, someone will inevitably say: Well y’know, “When one door closes, a new one
will open.”
In 2012 I felt the need to create a series of alternate realities that I imagined might at some point
be beyond my own doors as they might continue to close and reopen.
Education
I received a BA from UCSC, and have taken many continuing education courses since, but my
primary education has come from outside the classroom.
My long time work relationship and friendship with Eyvind Earle changed my life as I
experienced his graphic style and his spiritual approach to success. I was involved in silkscreening
his art, traveling and setting up and dismantling shows, helping set up and run a
gallery–and many other aspects of the art business, while continuing to create my own art; often
exhibiting with Eyvind.
My College professor and friend Jack Zajac with his sensual waterfalls, and his bound goat
sculpture, has been an important mentor for me.
I grew up with creative parents and a father whose spiritually artistic and brilliant nature showed
me success is not always monetary.
My long time partner, Mark Bava, has forever altered my perception of life and art–through his
artistic sensibilities, his kindness, his dry wit, his enjoyment of life and his friendship. I have
travelled extensively and that has opened my eyes to different cultures, people and ways of life
and art.
Mark Bava
Bava was born in 1954 and raised in a small agricultural town in the Central Valley of California among Italian peach farmers. Families that immigrated there as did his father and relatives. He was however raised with an
artistic background. His mother was an impressionist painter and from the beginning he was interested in art and could cite the work and theories of various Impressionists at a very young age. He painted his first painting, an
impressionistic still life, when he was nine years old.
His mother later remarried another Italian painter and moved to Capri in the late 60′s where Bava
visited as a teenager and further traveled seeing the art, antiquities and ancient ruins at Pompeii,
Rome and Athens.
In the mid-70s he attended art school at CSU Stanislaus but whose instructors were largely from
New York and at the time boasted a contemporary curriculum and art department to rival the SF
Art Institute.
Through the school’s art programs, some winter semesters were spent in New York under sculptor Ralf Parton which he cites as a major pivot point; “My knowledge of art at that time was pretty much only through the Impressionists that I was raised with, however contemporary art history along with studying in New York opened my eyes to post-war abstract expressionism as well as all the 50′s and 60′s movements in pop, op, minimalism, installation art, art happenings and all that. It was still a vibrant time for arts in New York, not only the whole Soho and uptown gallery scene, but also in theater and music. The whole CBGBs and Studio 54 thing was going on, Saturday Night Live had just debuted, the off-Broadway Theater Row playhouses were just starting up. I was glad to catch some of that.
Despite my mother being a painter and my interest in painting as a child, while there I somehow turned to sculpture rather than painting. I started working in plaster emphasizing surface textures and body language doing Giocometti/Neri-ish pieces but with my subject matter being statments on society. I did plaster studies of down and out street characters that I was seeing hanging out down on the Lower East Side and in the Bowery… however I was also always a history buff and loved Greek mythology and Biblical stories growing up…stories full of some of the same misguided characters…[laughs], and I also loved the ruins and the fragmented sculpture and bits that I had seen in Italy and Greece when I had visited my family on Capri, like those ashen and lava covered figures at Pompeii..
So I get this combination… I take my subject matter from both modern and ancient societies and myths but my work is somewhat conceptual in that it is statements on human character rather than form… I am largely trying to create some kind of static “modern relics” or icons. Mr. Bava also has considerable foundry and mold making experience working at Monterey Sculpture Foundries for 8 years.
He is noted for his surface textures complete with chips, hacks, tool marks and casting flaws. He sites his influences as Giacometti, Lynn Chadwick, Manuel Neri and Kenneth Armitage as a few examples. His work is sold in galleries in San Francisco, Carmel, Atlanta and New York. In addition, he is a musician as a hobbyist and is also well known for his productions of large multi media events in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Lilliana Braico – View complete bio
Chris Bava – View complete bio
