 Missing, 2005 acrylic, pigment print on canvas, 28 x 20 inches Deborah Oropallo Stretch Stephen Wirtz Gallery announces "Stretch", an exhibition of a new series of photo-based pigment works on canvas by Deborah Oropallo. "Stretch" is the third installment in an ongoing series where the artist has opened her painting practice to new image making possibilities available through the use of digital methodology. In "Stretch", Oropallo is pushing pixels like paint, expanding, extending and spreading the images to new formats. These more abstract presentations explore how far an object can be obscured or exaggerated and still register as recognizable, testing the number of visual cues required of the viewer for the process of identification. Sections of an image are digitally slit, repositioned and collaged with expressively altered sections of the same image, creating a disorienting effect and confounding a clear reading of foreground and background. The activated imagery exhibits an unfocused and distorted outcome that lends the impression of optical vibration to the works, and, in some cases, the effect of exaggerated motion. Oropallo selects images of seemingly benign objects from domestic life: toys, bedroom items, and iconic symbols of home and neighborhood, often borrowed from the internet, and wields them theatrically, mining a subtext that produces an unexpected beauty while insinuating a subtle sense of unease and anxiety. Repetition is paramount in past works by Oropallo, and continues to play an important role in these new pieces. The use of multiple presentations of an object emphasizes the monotony of domestic existence and the unsung dramas of daily life. Deborah Oropallo (b. Hackensack, NJ) received her MA and MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. Works are included in numerous museum collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Pitfalls", a concurrent exhibition of past work by Oropallo is on view at Modernism West through January 2, and Oropallo will have a solo exhibition at the Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID, in 2006. "How To", a traveling career retrospective of the artist's work, was organized by the San Jose Museum of Art in 2001. Exhibition: November 16 - December 23, 2005 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, Sat 10:30 am - 5:30 pm Stephen Wirtz Gallery 49 Geary Street, 3rd Floor USA-San Francisco, CA 94108 Telephone +1 415 433-6879 Fax +1 415 433-1608 Email swg@wirtzgallery.com www.wirtzgallery.com |
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