Opening Party 4/21/2007 6pm-9pm
Show Runs 4/16/2007 – 5/16/2007
“Dreaming Nature” is a meditation on the spirit that inhabits life, nature, and everything around us. This event will combine music, an industrial setting, and natural images influenced by both East and West to evoke that spiritual presence.
This opening party FLOAT marks the beginning of our 2nd year. To show our appreciation to both the artists and our customers, we will be raffling off complementary floatation sessions during the event. In addition, we will have food, drinks and live woodwind music by Cornelius Boots.
About the Artist:
QiRe Ching juxtaposes images of animals, landscapes, tornadoes and architectural elements in loosely defined settings. The horizontal and vertical structure of the underlying composition conveys a sense of stillness, solitude and reflection. The paintings are informed by these troubled times, in which we find a great split between East and West. The decorative motifs are influenced by Ching's interest in Persian miniature paintings and medieval manuscript illuminations.
For Ching these elements represent a time when opposing worlds exchanged ideas and mutually influenced each other. He employs decorative patterns not only as surface ornamentation, but also as a meditative vehicle, by virtue of their repetitive elements and references to nature. The paintings are partitioned into sections that function as fragments of thought or experience, or rooms that one might wander through. They refer to interior spaces, the world outside, and the spirit by which both are animated.
QiRe Ching has been a painter for thirty years. In 1989 he received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. During the height of the AIDS epidemic, he worked closely with AIDS patients as a psychiatric social worker. The deaths he experienced in his personal and professional life led him to pursue images that could contain his pervading sense of sadness and loss.
He sought to bridge the distance between the waking world and that which lay beyond. The veil that separated the two realities had become permeable, their connection more fluid. Ching’s interest in the divine essence that inhabits materiality led him to undergo Jungian analytic training at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. He is currently a Jungian analyst in private practice. More recently, the arrival of a daughter has highlighted the relationship between spirit, nature and the day to day permutations of ordinary life.
About the Music:
Oakland woodwind specialist Cornelius Boots is a progressive rock composer, bass clarinet musician, wu wei woodwind instructor and Zen flute adept. He leads the world's only composing bass clarinet quartet, Edmund Welles, for which he has composed and arranged over 60 pieces. His most recent work is "2012: A Requiem for Baktun 12 the 13th and Final Cycle", written for a featured performance at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
The evening's performance will be spontaneously created specifically for the Dreaming Nature exhibit. This is the premiere performance of "Shunyata Wu-xi," the performing name of Boots' mendicant bamboo flute set, meaning (wizard of the void). Shunyata Wu-xi utilizes shakuhachi and staff flutes and also employs the occasional tape loop, Tibetan singing bowl, and actual human voice. It prioritizes breath and spontaneous creativity. Musical elements are drawn from Zen meditation solo pieces, Japanese folk songs and pilgrim hymns, blues, soundtrack music and Tibetan chant. The resulting sound can be described as minimalist avant-new age or Buddhist blues.
This opening party FLOAT marks the beginning of our 2nd year. To show our appreciation to both the artists and our customers, we will be raffling off complementary floatation sessions during the event. In addition, we will have food, drinks and live woodwind music by Cornelius Boots.
About the Artist:
QiRe Ching juxtaposes images of animals, landscapes, tornadoes and architectural elements in loosely defined settings. The horizontal and vertical structure of the underlying composition conveys a sense of stillness, solitude and reflection. The paintings are informed by these troubled times, in which we find a great split between East and West. The decorative motifs are influenced by Ching's interest in Persian miniature paintings and medieval manuscript illuminations. For Ching these elements represent a time when opposing worlds exchanged ideas and mutually influenced each other. He employs decorative patterns not only as surface ornamentation, but also as a meditative vehicle, by virtue of their repetitive elements and references to nature. The paintings are partitioned into sections that function as fragments of thought or experience, or rooms that one might wander through. They refer to interior spaces, the world outside, and the spirit by which both are animated.
QiRe Ching has been a painter for thirty years. In 1989 he received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. During the height of the AIDS epidemic, he worked closely with AIDS patients as a psychiatric social worker. The deaths he experienced in his personal and professional life led him to pursue images that could contain his pervading sense of sadness and loss.
He sought to bridge the distance between the waking world and that which lay beyond. The veil that separated the two realities had become permeable, their connection more fluid. Ching’s interest in the divine essence that inhabits materiality led him to undergo Jungian analytic training at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. He is currently a Jungian analyst in private practice. More recently, the arrival of a daughter has highlighted the relationship between spirit, nature and the day to day permutations of ordinary life.
About the Music:
Oakland woodwind specialist Cornelius Boots is a progressive rock composer, bass clarinet musician, wu wei woodwind instructor and Zen flute adept. He leads the world's only composing bass clarinet quartet, Edmund Welles, for which he has composed and arranged over 60 pieces. His most recent work is "2012: A Requiem for Baktun 12 the 13th and Final Cycle", written for a featured performance at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The evening's performance will be spontaneously created specifically for the Dreaming Nature exhibit. This is the premiere performance of "Shunyata Wu-xi," the performing name of Boots' mendicant bamboo flute set, meaning (wizard of the void). Shunyata Wu-xi utilizes shakuhachi and staff flutes and also employs the occasional tape loop, Tibetan singing bowl, and actual human voice. It prioritizes breath and spontaneous creativity. Musical elements are drawn from Zen meditation solo pieces, Japanese folk songs and pilgrim hymns, blues, soundtrack music and Tibetan chant. The resulting sound can be described as minimalist avant-new age or Buddhist blues.
www.corneliusboots.com
www.edmundwelles.com
