FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Transition" - New Works by Selected Gallery Artists:
Diana Jacobs, Lynn Welker
Dates: December 6, 2003, January 17, 2004
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 6, 6-9 PM

Absolute Art Gallery
2326 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
Tel: 626.285.8585, Fax: 626.285.8808
E-mail, <mailto:info@absoluteartgallery.net>
Web site, <http://www.absoluteartgallery.net>
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment 

San Marino, CA -- Absolute Art Gallery, a new contemporary art gallery, is very pleased to announce its third exhibition, "Transition," featuring two artists, Diana Jacobs, Lynn Welker.  

With a strong passion for art, Absolute Art gallery will present a variety of excellent contemporary artists working in many different styles and media. The gallery will act as go-between classical and modern, human and natural, historical and realistic, and stimulate conversation of such issues in order to provide a window of communication for art enjoyment and appreciation, and to increase dynamic cultural activities for our families, friends, and the community.  The exhibition opens December 6, 2003 and runs through January 17, 2004.

"Transition" suggests the true process of creative life, the transformation of visual presentation from time-to-time, place-to-place, and, person-to-person.

Diana Jacobs is a printmaker, whose work is the result of a restless intellect, meticulous craftsmanship and a desire to blend art, science and mathematics.

The series of ala poupee etchings (the colored ink is put directly on the plate) entitled "Scratched Negatives", Jacobs began to work with vintage photographs she found in a thrift store. As she examined these old, faded photographs, she noticed how often people posed in front of their cherished possessions Ð their homes and their automobiles. She also wondered why these photographs were abandoned rather than cherished.

Jacobs' work begins to move inexorably towards abstraction with the next series of hand-colored etchings from the ÒTopologyÓ series, based on aerial views taken from a hot air balloon in France. The distinct format Jacobs uses in these landscapes Ð one of them is a long, horizontal and panoramic view with the horizon visible. The soft focus panoramic etchings fuse sky and ground in a dreamy way. The unusual perspective creates a landscape reminiscent of pieced quilts and Abstract-Expressionist paintings. Unlike the ÒScratched NegativesÓ series, which are visually, conceptually and narratively complex, these small scale and intimate works, with their gentle earth tones and rounded forms are simply elegant and peaceful gems.

In the "Letters of Law" series, Jacobs questions the semblance of data and truth, as represented in words and numbers. Her large works, surprisingly, are made from unstretched, crumpled canvases that have been slathered with layers of paint, the backdrop against which stenciled letters and numbers assert themselves.

Lynn Welker's water media paintings often join abstract shapes with recognizable form. Representational as well as non-representational works are composed from an intuitive, imaginative process. Each painting conveys its message through the use of a unique quality of color and design utilizing simplicity in a creative manner, architectural, and human form are included in WelkerÕs original, spontaneous compositions.

Working exclusively with water media on paper or canvas, bold washes of pigment are applied. With a broad concept in mind, the painting begins to develop. The optional use of watercolor, acrylic, gouache, texture medium, and/or collage allows a freedom to be creative. During the process, design plays a most important roll along with color and texture.

 "I am compelled to go beyond the literal world of representational art.  Through the conscious and constructive use of design and color, painting becomes an unexpected surprise, a fresh new way of seeing, challenging my intellect as well as the viewer's." said, Lynn Welker .

 Living in Southern California, Lynn Welker successfully balances her career in fine art by painting and teaching. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, College of Art and Design, her paintings has garnered many awards and are included in private and public collections across the country as well as in Europe. Recently, the San Bernardino County Museum purchased her painting ÒDrawn Into LightÓ to be included with its permanent collection.

The opening reception will be held from 6-9 PM on Saturday, December 6, 2003 and will be open to the public.

Absolute Art Gallery is located at 2326 Huntington Drive, between San Marino Avenue and Del Mar Avenue, 100 feet east of San Marino City Hall, south of Huntington Library in San Marino.

For more information about Absolute Art Gallery, including images, please contact: 626.285.8585 or info@absoluteartgallery.net