We Are Stardust
November 16 - December 31, 2024
We Are Stardust addresses notions of interconnectedness, romanticism, transience, and eternality. From scientists like Carl Sagan and Neil Degrasse Tyson to artists like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, and Hoagy Carmichael, stardust has been used to literally and figuratively describe the human condition. Painting attempts to encapsulate these concepts through the use of basic materials: medium, surface, and brush; and it is simply magical to witness the diversity of work that emerges from them, much in the same way that every being created from stardust can be so different. We Are Stardust showcases the stellar work of nine painters that have established an artistic style that is both ethereal and substantive.
Alec Huxley is a painter based in San Francisco. His work, primarily representational, is filled with contrast. Simultaneously stark and colorful, it focuses on landscapes of the American West Coast. Cinematic scenes serve as imperfect records of place, time and architecture for space travellers and wild animals. A self taught artist, his background includes studies in business, graphic design, photography, as well as a career in printing before committing to fine art full-time.
Ursula Xanthe Young is a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer whose urban fairy tale images have become a trademark of street culture in San Francisco and beyond. Her fine-lined illustrations and colorful modern paintings exude a style that is unique and appealing to art lovers of all kinds. Young grew up in the green rural dales of Northern England and studied art in New York, Florence, Vermont, Oslo, and London. After graduating from Parsons School of Design , she moved to San Francisco’s Lower Haight district and spent nearly a decade there. Following a stint in Alaska, Ursula has settled in Grass Valley CA, where she now lives and works.
Chris Stokes uses mixed media to interlace and layer unassuming combinations of color, lines and found materials. Elements from literature, cultural symbols, and architecture meld together to become art that equals more than the sum of its parts. Born in Philadelphia, the long-time San Francisco resident’s recent work is a reflection of his travels, his ever-evolving perspective of the world, and an interest in science fiction. The resulting pieces represent new landscapes and structures that seem barely possible.
Daniel Chen is an oil painter based in San Francisco. His body of work explores the way technology has affected our visual language and shapes the way we think and remember the past. He holds a BFA from Academy of Art University and an MFA from California College of the Arts.
J.L. King portrays anonymous figures and everyday objects in curiously extraordinary perspectives. Her paintings reveal vivid scenes through layers, windows, and portals into domains that inspire wonderment and nostalgia. She is heavily inspired by urban nature, her biracial heritage, and the pleasures and experiences of youth. King is a San Francisco native and practices art from her studio in the SOMA district.
Anthony Holdsworth was born in England and embarked on a painting career while working as Head of Outdoor Restoration for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. He continued his studies at the Bournemouth College of Art in England, and then the San Francisco Art Institute.
Originally a landscape artist influenced by the Bay Area Figurative Art movement, Holdsworth began painting plein air cityscapes near his Oakland studio. Eventually he made his way to San Francisco’s Mission District. He has shown with major galleries through California and has been a recipient of the WESTAF-NEA fellowship. Holdsworth lives in San Francisco, and works both there and in Oakland.
Beryl Landau is a San Francisco-based artist who describes her work as “symbolic landscape”. Her acrylic paintings depict geographical locations rendered in a manner that evokes feelings about them. Born in New York City, Landau moved to Santa Monica CA at the age of 15, then arrived in San Francisco in the 1960s to attain BFA and MFA degrees at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her teachers included Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and Joan Brown. She lives and works in Bernal Heights.
Michael Moncibaiz meanders through the purely gestural and technical applications of abstraction, utilizing his training in street and studio art to create compositions that address perception and matter. He explores the most fundamental elements of art and design, in color and form, and how they relate to each other and the viewer. Dynamic matrices of architectural and graphic elements evoke a visceral reaction to otherwise static elements of flat shapes. Moncibaiz was born in the United States and raised in Puerto Rico. He returned to earn his BFA and MA at New York State University Oswego and is now based in El Paso TX.
Emily Fromm is a visual artist and muralist in San Francisco, California. Her style draws inspiration from traditional sign painting techniques, cartoons, and comic books to create a nostalgic yet contemporary lens with which to view iconic city locales. The scenes in her paintings highlight treasured city businesses along with public institutions and people in the community who inhabit and shape our urban neighborhoods. Her paintings have, thus far, featured locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Montréal, and London.