The Floating World
Featuring New Work by Gina Stepaniuk and Linda Vallejo
Los Angeles, CA, September 28, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Amidst the towering skyscrapers, congested city streets, and mounting construction in the name of urban expansion two artists, Gina Stepaniuk and Linda Vallejo, detail the awesome energy of nature in a two-woman show, “The Floating World.” To dismiss the notion that nature is something to be viewed through a car window or found between the confined spaces of concrete, both artists guide and reconnect us to a nature that is alive and vibrant. Immersing themselves in the elemental energy of the natural world, Stepaniuk and Vallejo create pieces that are much more than merely landscapes. Instead, what appears on the canvas is the at-times forgotten connection and relationship between the viewer and the experience of nature. Electric, in a state of constant flux, the paintings themselves become alive. One need only witness the paintings to experience the infusing power of nature and be reminded of its potential to (re)connect us all to a force much greater than ourselves.
“The Floating World” will run from October 6, 2007 to November 3, 2007. An opening reception will by held Saturday, October 6, 2007 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. A conversation with the artists will begin at 7:00 pm.
About the Artists
Gina Stepaniuk was born and educated in Canada before moving to Los Angeles where for the past several years she has lived and painted. She has exhibited in several galleries throughout California and has acted as a major supporter of the arts through her board work with the Los Angeles Art Association. “Gina Stepaniuk’s paintings are ecstatic. Her landscapes quiver and vibrate, giving plein air compositions a charged metaphorical quality,” states the Deputy Director for Exhibitions at Santa Monica Museum of Art, Lisa Melandri. Heavily influenced by her long time practice of Buddhist meditation, Stepaniuk is fond of nature/landscape as a genre because it subconsciously allows her to blur the distinctions between the physical and non-physical world. “At first glance, Gina Stepaniuk's works appear to be images representing a place that could be familiar--a forest of trees, fields of multi-colored grasses, a landscape...Beyond this first view, however, one begins to be aware of a world far more mysterious, a world that is intimate and magical,” says Ellie Blankfort of Ellie Blankfort Fine Arts.
Linda Vallejo is a nationally recognized artist who for the past several decades has contributed to the arts as a painter, sculptor, mixed-media artist, and educator. “The saturated colors and sense of dynamically charged landscape evoke the work of Vincent Van Gogh,” states Dr. Betty Brown, an Art Historian and Critic. Educated in Southern California and in Spain, Vallejo has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the country as well as Mexico, Italy, and Spain. Vallejo has spent the past twelve years painting landscapes. “Her paintings of surreal, electrified and transformed landscapes suggest a more vibrant and alluring reality. Color and energy swirl throughout the canvasses and transport you into her alternative world. Her work is not held hostage by fashion or trend – rather she is a singular voice with apparitions all her own,” remarks William Moreno, Executive Director of The Claremont Museum of Art. Her desire is to help the viewer find a place from which one can embark on a journey to find balance between the ever-changing natural world and human-made hardships.
About Metro Gallery
Metro Gallery is a full-service art gallery located at 1835 Hyperion Avenue in Silverlake, California. Gallery hours are from 12pm – 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday. For more information on this exhibit opening and upcoming exhibits, contact the gallery at (323) 663-2787 or visit www.metrogallery.org.
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“The Floating World” will run from October 6, 2007 to November 3, 2007. An opening reception will by held Saturday, October 6, 2007 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. A conversation with the artists will begin at 7:00 pm.
About the Artists
Gina Stepaniuk was born and educated in Canada before moving to Los Angeles where for the past several years she has lived and painted. She has exhibited in several galleries throughout California and has acted as a major supporter of the arts through her board work with the Los Angeles Art Association. “Gina Stepaniuk’s paintings are ecstatic. Her landscapes quiver and vibrate, giving plein air compositions a charged metaphorical quality,” states the Deputy Director for Exhibitions at Santa Monica Museum of Art, Lisa Melandri. Heavily influenced by her long time practice of Buddhist meditation, Stepaniuk is fond of nature/landscape as a genre because it subconsciously allows her to blur the distinctions between the physical and non-physical world. “At first glance, Gina Stepaniuk's works appear to be images representing a place that could be familiar--a forest of trees, fields of multi-colored grasses, a landscape...Beyond this first view, however, one begins to be aware of a world far more mysterious, a world that is intimate and magical,” says Ellie Blankfort of Ellie Blankfort Fine Arts.
Linda Vallejo is a nationally recognized artist who for the past several decades has contributed to the arts as a painter, sculptor, mixed-media artist, and educator. “The saturated colors and sense of dynamically charged landscape evoke the work of Vincent Van Gogh,” states Dr. Betty Brown, an Art Historian and Critic. Educated in Southern California and in Spain, Vallejo has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the country as well as Mexico, Italy, and Spain. Vallejo has spent the past twelve years painting landscapes. “Her paintings of surreal, electrified and transformed landscapes suggest a more vibrant and alluring reality. Color and energy swirl throughout the canvasses and transport you into her alternative world. Her work is not held hostage by fashion or trend – rather she is a singular voice with apparitions all her own,” remarks William Moreno, Executive Director of The Claremont Museum of Art. Her desire is to help the viewer find a place from which one can embark on a journey to find balance between the ever-changing natural world and human-made hardships.
About Metro Gallery
Metro Gallery is a full-service art gallery located at 1835 Hyperion Avenue in Silverlake, California. Gallery hours are from 12pm – 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday. For more information on this exhibit opening and upcoming exhibits, contact the gallery at (323) 663-2787 or visit www.metrogallery.org.
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Contact
Metro Gallery
Juan Garcia
323.663.2787
www.metrogallery.org
Juan Garcia
323.663.2787
www.metrogallery.org
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