Tamar Halpern I AM IN IT, I AM RELENTLESSLY TALKING ABOUT TIME I CAN FEEL IT DRUMMING, RARELY AM I PEACEFUL, BUT I'M DIGGING THIS LITTLE HOLE RIGHT HERE WHICH IS REALLY TEARING A HOLD IN THE OTHER THING, ENGAGING IT SOMEHOW IN A WAY I LIKE AND THAT LETS ME FALL OUT.
Medium: UltraChrome Ink, Pigment Dispersion, Chinese Crinkle Silk, on Linen.
Dimensions: 42 x 32 x 1 inch
Evelyn Contreras and Tamar Siegfried Rosa Halpern
September 8 - October 19, 2022
Opening Thursday, September 8th, 3:30 - 5:30 pm
The Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Evelyn Contreras and Tamar Halpern, two artists who are inspired by traditional mediums such as printmaking and painting while incorporating unusual technical skills, digital references and a-typical mediums. Both artists, who work independently, are alumni of the Santa Barbara City College studio art program.
Evelyn Contreras (born in Santa Barbara; lives and works in Southern, California) received her BFA in Printmaking from CSU Long Beach (CSULB), Long Beach, CA in 2016 and her MFA with a concentration in Printmaking from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018.
Contreras’ work creatively engages printmaking in multimedia formats. In this exhibition, a series of cinematic flip book machines made from abstracted black and white prints will be installed in the gallery in three neon-green viewing stations, featuring paint, vinyl and glowing UV light. Her sculptural corner work “Suspension”, 2021 made of acrylic, wood and paint resembles a sci-fi Rorschach inkblot that includes a digital monitor displaying a kinetic, custom designed GIF landscape. While her newest body of work transfers these architectural GIF landscapes into the handheld popular cultural format of a stereoscopic viewfinder. Threading the boundaries between high and low cultural references, Contreras’ work incorporates both Chicano cultural lexicons while referencing both high and low aesthetic art movements such as Suprematism, Non-objective art and Op-Art engaging thoughtful investigations on the hierarchies of aesthetics.
Tamar Siegfried Rosa Halpern (born 1979 in Los Angeles; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) received her BFA from the College of Santa Fe, NM in 2003 and her MFA from Columbia University in 2005.
In experiencing Halpern’s dynamic, time-based paintings, prints and sculpture one recognizes these are narrative, cinematic works made for and in the physical dimension - the fragmented images and texts that comprise these artworks give insight into their most intimate thoughts about process and practice. A series of images printed on silk or plexiglass plates dissolve into each other - the composition constantly varying and influenced by the materiality of plates, light in the room, the viewer’s position, and objects around. The imagery is photographic, aspects of it are recognizable: hair, a hand, toes, folds of fabric, foliage, but it has been splayed apart and left open for questioning. On view at the Atkinson will be three new works on linen incorporating Chinese Crinkled Silk; three framed UV prints on plexiglass and aluminum, and three sculptures of UV printed plexiglass. The identifying texts composed for each work and incorporated into the installation correlate to traditional ways of labeling art. Intentionality is described by the title; the time in which the work was made (mood, period, state of mind) is the date; the dimensions are places Halpern’s body traveled while the work was being created, and also the amount of physical space the artwork takes up and the medium is what goes into creation. For the artist, time is a spatial dimension that informs the illusory experience of their art.
September 8 - October 19, 2022
Opening Thursday, September 8th, 3:30 - 5:30 pm
The Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Evelyn Contreras and Tamar Halpern, two artists who are inspired by traditional mediums such as printmaking and painting while incorporating unusual technical skills, digital references and a-typical mediums. Both artists, who work independently, are alumni of the Santa Barbara City College studio art program.
Evelyn Contreras (born in Santa Barbara; lives and works in Southern, California) received her BFA in Printmaking from CSU Long Beach (CSULB), Long Beach, CA in 2016 and her MFA with a concentration in Printmaking from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018.
Contreras’ work creatively engages printmaking in multimedia formats. In this exhibition, a series of cinematic flip book machines made from abstracted black and white prints will be installed in the gallery in three neon-green viewing stations, featuring paint, vinyl and glowing UV light. Her sculptural corner work “Suspension”, 2021 made of acrylic, wood and paint resembles a sci-fi Rorschach inkblot that includes a digital monitor displaying a kinetic, custom designed GIF landscape. While her newest body of work transfers these architectural GIF landscapes into the handheld popular cultural format of a stereoscopic viewfinder. Threading the boundaries between high and low cultural references, Contreras’ work incorporates both Chicano cultural lexicons while referencing both high and low aesthetic art movements such as Suprematism, Non-objective art and Op-Art engaging thoughtful investigations on the hierarchies of aesthetics.
Tamar Siegfried Rosa Halpern (born 1979 in Los Angeles; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) received her BFA from the College of Santa Fe, NM in 2003 and her MFA from Columbia University in 2005.
In experiencing Halpern’s dynamic, time-based paintings, prints and sculpture one recognizes these are narrative, cinematic works made for and in the physical dimension - the fragmented images and texts that comprise these artworks give insight into their most intimate thoughts about process and practice. A series of images printed on silk or plexiglass plates dissolve into each other - the composition constantly varying and influenced by the materiality of plates, light in the room, the viewer’s position, and objects around. The imagery is photographic, aspects of it are recognizable: hair, a hand, toes, folds of fabric, foliage, but it has been splayed apart and left open for questioning. On view at the Atkinson will be three new works on linen incorporating Chinese Crinkled Silk; three framed UV prints on plexiglass and aluminum, and three sculptures of UV printed plexiglass. The identifying texts composed for each work and incorporated into the installation correlate to traditional ways of labeling art. Intentionality is described by the title; the time in which the work was made (mood, period, state of mind) is the date; the dimensions are places Halpern’s body traveled while the work was being created, and also the amount of physical space the artwork takes up and the medium is what goes into creation. For the artist, time is a spatial dimension that informs the illusory experience of their art.
Evelyn Contreras "Suspension", 2021. Acrylic, GIF, Monitor, House Paint, Spray Paint, Wood, Mirrored Acrylic 48" x 48" x 24"