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March 4, 2005

Renowned Bay Area artists to be featured on campus

In what may be one of the strongest and most complete exhibitions of its kind, various works by some of the Bay Area’s most renowned artists will be on display in the Bay Area Figuration Show in the University Library Gallery at California State University, Sacramento from March 7 to May 22.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. An opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, March 11.

This collection of paintings and sculptures, loaned by the de Young Museum and the Hackett Freedman Gallery in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum and various private collections, showcases works of great Bay Area and Northern California artists such as David Park—the developer of the figuration movement—Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn. Other lesser-known artists of the movement, some of whose works have rarely been seen, will also be on display.

The figurative art movement was an avant-garde development in the art world during the 1950s and 1960s, emerging as a counter-movement against the leading art style of “abstract expressionism.” Using the human form and other discernable objects, the movement shifted artists away from the completely abstract.

“It is arguably the most important art movement in Northern California,” says Robert Aichele, curator for this exhibition and faculty emeritus. “It freed artists with abstract expressionist tendencies to once again include the human form in their work.”

The paintings in the show are distinguishable by their bold, vibrant colors, their large formats, and portraits of non-descript subjects.

“It’s a great opportunity for students and the local community to see this diverse collection of important works by some of Northern California’s most significant 20th century artists, most of whom are internationally recognized,” Aichele says.

For information contact the University Library Gallery at (916) 278-2368. For media assistance, call public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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