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Sparks Gallery is pleased to show new work by artists Julia San Román and Daniel Ketelhut this fall. San Roman will be showing her collection “Glimmer & Remnants” and Ketelhut will be showing his series, “Palimpsestuous Activity” Join us for the reception on Sunday, October 20, 2024 from 5-8pm. RSVP at: https://sparksgallery.com/rsvp?eid=45757
“Glimmer & Remnants” will run from Oct 20 – Dec 30, 2024, and “Palimpsestuous Activity” will run from Oct 3-31, 2024.
Please enjoy the statements from each of the artists, below:
Julia San Román, August 2024:
In GLIMMER, I am focused on Light, trying to go to the essence of it, in this case my interpretation of the physical light spectrum.
Inspired by the California Light & Space Movement, here I am trying to convey a new direction of hope, the INFINITE HOPE, based on science and reason…away from fatigue. Thus, by using two languages, which is part of who I am, I try to develop an infinite order out of either expressionistic or atmospheric chaos. This bilingual work is formally expressed by the integration of geometric abstraction with naturalistic light episodes reflected in clouds. These insets with chromatic stripes are reminders that you are looking at a painting and not precarious to morerepresentations of natural wonders, but rather at intimations of old and new world.
My present hope is for the light of reason. Having a scientific background led me to only believe in the empiric method to search for truth. My beliefs are informed by scientific knowledge, which offer light into unraveling the truth. Added to this, my romantic nature focuses on the right of freedom, all the freedoms available equally for all, so in the midst of a void cleanliness, I am creating a pictorial space, in which to give dignity to my own dream, mankind’s dream to find a dignity that might include all living things.
What we are doing to the planet Earth abruptly hit me in a very personal way on the summer of 2022. REMNANTS is a clear evolution from GLIMMER where to the light episodes and geometric abstraction I am adding acrylic flowers ranging from more precarious to more vibrant in shape and color.
“The remnants of Hope” are what is left…
REMNANTS seek to seduce the viewer into the embracement of the feminine side in all of us. It is a voluptuous, luminous celebration of Nature’s beauty inserted in line structures of enlightenment; however, a reminder that every flower is a “memento mori” of transient beauty. Not less insightful than GLIMMER, Hope in REMNANTS is the capacity we all have to think and act with a vision of preservation and the perpetuity of life, striving for a sensuous fluidity and the nurturing of all living things with water, oxygen and light. Many of the titles include references to different plastic materials, signifying that plastic is all we will have left, if we continue anchored in the present state of selfish stagnation, or if we keep behaving with a slow resolve to act and protect Nature.
The name REMNANTS came to my mind not only as the meaning of “leftover”, but to the fabric remnants used to make American quilts. These compositions are patches of different icons, narratives, languages, and that also includes the shapes of birds, a constant vocabulary that comes and goes throughout my evolution, sometimes only a light imprint, sometimes passing by in gray, but always in flight.
Daniel Ketelhut, August 2024:
In its original meaning, a palimpsest is a piece of writing material on which the original text has been erased to make room for new writing, with traces of the earlier writing still visible. More generally, it is something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. It is this second, broader definition which is most pertinent with respect to this body of work.
Palimpsestuous Activity is a group of oil paintings completed within the past 10 months. They are, in all cases, new paintings painted over older pieces which, for one reason or another, I was never fully satisfied with. I began each painting by applying a few layers of unbleached titanium which, by design, covered most, but not all, of the original imagery. Once these initial effacing layers had dried, I began developing new imagery, allowing the still visible parts of the previous painting to act as jumping off points. As the new painting began taking on a life of its own, I further honed the imagery with a greater variety of line, form, and color. This is in marked contrast to my usual process of developing a painting from a series of sketches and studies, as it forced me to make ad hoc, on the spot design decisions without access to a previously arrived at image. I found this entire process very liberating. Beginning with an initial “hook”, and approaching the work with a spirit of play, it ultimately gave my imagination and sensibilities permission to be freer and more experimental.
The resulting paintings are all inhabited by groupings of biomorphic forms dwelling in uncertain spaces. The color palette tends to be on the lighter, cooler side, with occasional punches of warmer, brighter hues. The brushwork has an overall loose and painterly quality, with occasional crisp lines and well-defined shapes punctuating the surface.
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530 Sixth Ave, San Diego, CA, United States, California 92101
