Author: Montalvo

Works By Riva Lehrer

No longer on view. The cottage gallery portion of the exhibition closed November 13, 2022. Acrylic, dimensional collage and mixed media on Amate paperCollection of Larry A. Gerber Dolls contain images of organs removed from my body during surgery. Mixed media on paperPrivate collection, Chicago William Shannon is a dancer, skateboarder, choreographer, and video artist, an early pioneer in subverting assumptions about contemporary dance. Shannon resides in Pittsburgh, PA. Mixed media and collage on paperCollection of Larry A. Gerber Lennard Davis is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Davis explores the political, literary, and…
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Untitled (Marble and Wood Sculpture)

Marble, wood, steel, canvas, graphite, mixed media46 x 48 x 24 in.Courtesy of the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, San FranciscoPhoto: Diane Roby No longer on view. The cottage gallery portion of the exhibition closed November 13, 2022. Jackson spent extended periods in 1983 and 1985 in Carrara, Italy, working on marble sculptures, which he has continued in his studio in Oakland, California. In an art historical sense one might perceive the figures in his otherwise abstract paintings as an attempt to resolve or at least investigate the space between abstraction and figuration. That would be wrong. His figures are…
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Of Color

Photo courtesy Pilar Agüero-Esparza The large-scale painted and woven canvas tapestry mural by Pilar Agüero-Esparza, brings together the power of the hand-made, references to the body through skin color and prismatic color found in the landscape. While juxtaposing ideas related to social hierarchies and stratums, the tapestry interweaves symbolic color both of the physical body (as represented by a skin tone palette) and color found in nature. Through the creation of a wall like structure, Agüero-Esparza evokes the tradition of Chicano muralism, which is often used to uplift marginalized communities, into the social space of the Montalvo Arts Center Italianate…
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One Legged Woman Standing

Courtesy of Dolby Chadwick Gallery and the Estate of Stephen De Staebler. The fractured human form has long been a subject for acclaimed American sculptor Stephen De Staebler. As with many of his works, One Legged Woman Standing recalls the fragmented remains of figurative sculpture from classical antiquity. The incomplete figure registers the vulnerability of the human body—the cataclysmic effects of time, disease, and war—as well as the modern existential experience of the individual who feels psychically and spiritually fragmented. Balancing atop one leg, it also alludes to human endurance and tenacity. De Staebler’s One Legged Woman Standing finds a home among a classical…
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Return to the Garden of Eden

High-fired stoneware, porcelain, glazes; aluminum baseOverall: 80 x 30 x 38 in. / Base: 30 x 40 in.Courtesy of the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San FranciscoPhoto: Isaiah Plaza Return to the Garden of Eden is deeply inspired by Zhang’s upbringing in Maoist China, his subsequent disillusionment, and his ultimate relocation to California as a young artist in the 1990s. The sculpture reflects both a geographical journey and an ideological search. The monumental clay figure features the artist’s signature style – a blend that reflects Bay Area Figurative and California Funk traditions with nods to Chinese history. Inspired by his…
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Color Face

High fired clay with glaze30 x 31 x 37 in.Courtesy of the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San FranciscoPhoto: Isaiah Plaza Wanxin Zhang began his Color Face series in 2007 as an homage to his homeland. These works specifically reference Chinese opera performances where actors’ faces are painted in a stylized fashion or masked to represent a character’s personality or cultural status. The use of certain colors can distinguish goodness from evil, and strength from serenity. Although the designs can be complex, there are usually only two or three colors used for each character. Dripping with multi-colored glaze, this sculpture…
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