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Gallery Hours:
The Quicksilver Mine Co.
PHONE: 707.887.0799
© Sonoma's Own |
SHANE WEARE:
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"Archeology," Etching, 22" X 30",
2004
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Inventing and populating worlds inspired by nature, history, and remnants of cultures—past, present, and future—Weare weaves unforgettable images of littered forms, remote mountains, deserts and seashores, foregrounds strewn with a profusion of human and animal figures and cultural flotsam and jetsam. His more recent paintings are both satirical and playful, featuring almost cartoon-like characters moving through oddly ambiguous settings and colorful imaginary landscapes.
"Art Therapy," Etching, 22" X
30", 2004
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Originally from England, Shane Weare received his degree in printmaking from the Royal College of Art in 1963. He lived and taught in both England and the United States during the sixties, and in 1970 moved to Northern California to teach at the San Francisco Art Institute and the California College of Arts and Crafts among others. In 1971 he accepted a position at Sonoma State University where he became Professor Emeritus, teaching art and printmaking until he retired in 2000.
Selected one-man exhibitions include shows at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, and PRINTWORKS in Chicago; his work is also in many public and private collections including The British Museum, the Library of Congress, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum here in California.
ABOUT THE WORK IN THIS SHOW
This exhibition is the result of long a period of experimentation and soul-searching since retiring from teaching in the Art Department at Sonoma State University in 2001.
I have always been intensely interested in what we see as we look at landscape and how to interpret it. And yet I am realizing that literal representation no longer satisfies me. Harking back to my earlier work in printmaking, I have re-invented a world that comes from my own imagination.
A major influence in my work has been the Steven Spielberg movie "Empire of the Sun." In this film, set after the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in 1941, a small boy who is the lost son of a British ambassador, wanders into abandoned walled soccer stadium filled with huge piles of looted contents from the many foreign embassies in Shanghai. This was for me an unforgettable image of how the objects we value so much can end up as the flotsam of some political or cultural upheaval.
Other work in this exhibition is satirical as well as playful, including recent paintings, and drawings.
click on images for larger views
"River Series," #2,
Etching, 8" X 6", 2004/06 |
An Artist Reception for Shane Weare will be held on Saturday, April 5th from 4—6pm.
"Fool," Etching & watercolor,
12" X 9", 2007 |
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"Burning Beach,"
Gouache on canvas, 37" X 26", 2007 |
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"Keep Them Out," Ink on paper,
36" X 21", 2007 |