Jan 12 2018
-
Mar 06 2018
Naomi Alessandra: Ghost Garden

Naomi Alessandra: Ghost Garden

Presented by Art Works Downtown at Art Works Downtown

A solo exhibition of recent work by the recipient of the 2017–2018 Max Thelen Studio Residency, Naomi Alessandra

With Ghost Garden, the artist delves into complicated imagined relationships between her human-like protagonists and the natural and botanical worlds.

In these surreal scenes, spectral subjects are engaged in active connection—and sometimes conflict—with plants, animals, and environmental phenomena.

Through these complicated and unexpected scenarios, Naomi Alessandra develops mysterious, humorous, and vaguely unsettling allegories that aptly reflect the contemporary American social and political climate.

In addition to the artist’s watercolor and pen + ink works on paper, other mediums explored in Ghost Garden are concrete sculpture, contemporary freestyle Ikebana, and traditional hand-rendered animation. A specific visual vocabulary threads the exhibition and includes such odd symbolic motifs as traffic safety cones and spiny cacti.

About the Artist

Naomi Alessandra is an artist, illustrator and designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A scholar of comparative literature and apparel design, her work is character-driven and often documents fashion trends and other signifiers of cultural identity to create allegorical snapshots of modern life.

Naomi's illustration and design work has spanned the realms of fashion/editorial illustration, book illustration/ design, and packaging design.

Recently, she has turned her attention to expansive projects best suited to a gallery setting, including large format paintings on paper and hand-painted animated short films. Working most often with watercolor and pen + ink on paper, she relishes the technical challenge of developing big projects using materials usually reserved for more modest formats.

Admission Info

Free

Email us

Phone: (415) 451-8119

Additional time info:

Tuesday-Saturday  10:00 am – 5:00 pm

2nd Friday Art Walk Receptions:
January 12 • 5:00–8:00pm
February 9 • 5:00–8:00pm

Dates & Times

2018/01/12 - 2018/03/06

Location Info

Art Works Downtown

1337 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901