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 STATEMENT

My art explores vision, and light, and how perception shapes our notion of reality.  Our raw sensory input would be unintelligible if accessed directly.  Higher level processing is required, and it is usually but not always reliable. There is often more than one way to view objects.  Encountering ambiguity or paradox in art can be intriguing, disturbing, and uncanny.  Such experiences put us directly in touch with the constructed nature of what we see as "real."

 

I am further inspired by the intricacy of the natural forms within and around us.  Across broad differences in scale and material, simple repetitive units form complex, often networked, and even biological structures and processes.

 

I am an abstractionist and primarily a painter, but I like devising alternative processes.  While I am not a photographer, I do use it in a multi-step practice based upon views looking through transparent models of each of the five Platonic solids.  The geometric objects I use have a particular resonance with me as they were thought by some ancient philosophers to be essential basic structures from which everything else is built.  

One objective I have in this practice is to elicit the experience of seeing through these clear solids rather than to depict their appearance. They are therefore created on shaped lustrous supports. I also build these into actual 3D objects, which attain a higher order of intricacy.  I aim for an other-worldly feel enhanced by tensions between planarity and spatiality, and between abstraction and representation.

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I also compose hand woven drawings of painted, but otherwise ordinary string, cord or rope.  The underlying structure of these consists of grids, but the final design is free-form, comprised of oblique or curved elements.  Over the past several years, I have been merging my string drawings with my photography-based practice, producing more complex visual experiences.  

 

I hope you find my work to be both visually rewarding and conceptually intriguing.

BIO

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Laurence Elias had a long, successful career as a medical scientist, but ultimately doubled-down on his lifelong passion for art in 2016:  He embarked upon graduate studies at CCA, graduating 2018 with an MFA in visual art.  He works in multiple media, especially painting, photography, painted string weaving/drawing, and assemblage.  He has exhibited in many group shows, including Some Speechless Thing, Part 2 of the annual BAC members show (2020), The Naked Print at Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI (2019), and California Open, 15th Annual National Competition, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles (2020).  In 2019 he had a one-person show Reflect/Spirit/Light at Sebastopol Center of the Arts. In 2023 he received an award from the NYC4PA (New York Center for Photographic Art) for a submission to their show Abstract. This year Laurence is an invited guest artist in Field of Vision, a  two-person show at Gearbox Gallery, Oakland (April 25 to May 25). 

 

 Laurence's art reflects several recuring personal themes:  He is dazzled by the intricacy of natural structures and processes, built up as they are from layers upon layers of simpler elements, as well as the fleeting beauty of views seen through clear, reflective crystals, the odd distortions seen in overlapping repetitive patterns, and  the magical experience of spatiality that we enjoy despite our two-dimensional retinas.  



RESUMÉ

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Laurence resides and works in Berkeley, CA.

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​Exhibitions:

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Two Person and Solo:

2024

  • Field of Vision, with Sandra Kelch, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, CA

2019

  • Reflect/Spirit/Light at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA

 

Group Shows, Juried or Curated:

2024

  • Connected at Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, CA. Juried by TaVee Lee, Gallery Manager, Transmission Gallery, Oakland

2023

  • Within Sight or From Imagination at Gearbox Gallery, Oakland CA, Juried by Jeremy Morgan, artist

  • Abstract 2023, 3rd Place Prize, New York Center for Photographic Art, Online and Print Catalogue,  Juried by Darren Ching of Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2022

  • Blessed Unrest at Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA. Juried by Jack Fischer of Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco

​2021​

  • Crossing The Divide, at Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA, Juried by Donna Seager of Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2020

  • Fragments at ARC Gallery, San Francisco, Juried by Jen Tough, Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe

  • Out of the Box, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, CA

  • California Open, 15th Annual National Competition, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Juried by Kate Mothes, Curator of Young Space, and Dovetail Magazine

  • Some Speechless Thing (Part II of Annual Members Show) at Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA, Selected from Part I open submissions by Griff Williams, Gallery 16, San Francisco 

2019

  • The Naked Print at Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI, Juried by Stephen Fisher, Professor, Art Department, Rhode Island College, Providence

  • Art + Movement at Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, CA, Juried by Maria Porges, Artist, Writer, Faculty member, California College of the Arts, San Francisco

2018

  • Caught in the Fray, 14th Annual Textiles Exhibition, at College Street Gallery, Oakland, CA, Curated by Josh Faught, California College of the Arts

  • CCA MFA Show at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA

  • Wave-Forms at Embark Gallery, Oakland, CA, Juried by Leila Grothe, Assoc Curator, Wattis Institute, San Francisco and Baltimore Museum of Art

2017

  • Making Thinking at Hubble Street Gallery, San Francisco, Curated by Shaun O’Dell, California College of the Arts 

  • 5th Annual Juried Art Show at the Piedmont Center for the Art Piedmont, CA

2016

  • Krowsworkers/FARM at Krowswork Gallery, Oakland CA, Curated by Jasmine Moorhead

2015​

  • Drawn to Line at UCBX Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • Collect! at Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA

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Press:

  • Studio Visit (a print periodical) Vol.48, pp 62-65 (2021)  

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Education:

  • California College of the Arts,  M.F.A., 2018 

  • Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Visual Arts, UC Berkeley

Extension, San Francisco, 2016 

  • Art Coursework and Workshops (1966-2016):  

    • U.C. Berkeley Extension

    • Stanford University 

    • Stanford University Continuing Studies

    • Kala Institute (Berkeley)

    • University of New Mexico 

    • Harwood Foundation (Albuquerque NM)  

    • Princeton University

  • Stanford University, M.D., 1972 

  • Princeton University, A.B., 1967

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