We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are, exhibition by Joshua Petker September 11, 2010

941Geary Presents
We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are
New works by Joshua Petker

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11, 2010 7-11pm
On View: September 11 - October 2, 2010

The Shooting Gallery is pleased to present We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist, Joshua Petker. The new body of work continues the artist's ongoing exploration of color abstraction, negative space, and the human form. The exhibit will be the fourth solo show with The Shooting Gallery and will be comprised of 12-18 small to medium pieces rendered in both mixed media on canvas and gouache and ink on paper. The opening reception of We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are will be held at The Shooting Gallery on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 7-11 pm. The exhibit will be on display through October 2, 2010 and is free and open to the public.

Strongly reminiscent of Gustav Klimt's ethereal portraits from the turn of the 20th century, Joshua Petker consciously continues the art historical practice of exploring the nuance of human emotion through the female form. Petker suspends his female figures between intense color fields and quiet spaces of monochrome, liberating them from the confines of everyday life and setting them free in a color-laden world of his own imagination. In We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are, Petker explores the way humans use color to manipulate their physical appearance in order to transcend their reality. People use color with makeup to enhance their beauty, men use war paint to mark their transformation into warriors, shamans use body paint to demarcate the transition from body into spirit. Through these new works, Petker's colors expose the desire for human metamorphosis all the while reminding us that underneath the layers of color, we are more alike then we may think. The exhibition will be comprised partly of mixed media on canvas (acrylic, gouache and ink) and partly of gouache and ink on paper. This is the first time that the artist will be showing works on paper in a gallery.

Joshua Petker was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1979 and received a BA in Western History from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. After studying abroad in 2001 at the Lorenzo de'Medici Institute of Florence, he decided to pursue a career as a fine artist upon completion of his studies back in the U.S.A. He has exhibited nationally in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, and internationally in London. His work can be found in private collections throughout the world.