Past art exhibits at the FLOAT Gallery

Protection, transcendence and closure

The art of Darwin Price, Christopher Ellingson & Christopher Kanyusik

Opening, and end of the world costume party 12.21.2012, from 6pm to 9pm   

Please dress as your favorite end of the word character, DJ Champagne will be spinning music to the art work,  free psychic readings by Virginia, Exquisite corpse drawings by the party goers, once complete we will auction them off to the highest bidder and all the proceeds to go to Glide Memorial Church. Bubbling absinthe tea will be served along with other tasty libations.

Three Oakland Riviera artists lead us to the end of 2012, and show us that a new paradigm is nothing to fear. Show runs though January 12^th.

Darwin Price, Sculpture

My art creates religious syncretism. It’s my way of challenging widely held beliefs and creating new, more personal mythologies. I aspire to a psychodrama populated by the imaginary friends from every culture and creed throughout history, but not to make a point. Rather, to excavate deeper and discover newer meanings and purpose for my life. Constructing a personal philosophical framework through art is to me more relevant than religion or any one symbol no matter how sacred. I'm attracted to the idea of Buddha peacefully 'packing a heat,' homeless angels, or Jesus creeped out of his followers because they're a little too cloying and blissful. I take these saints and holy men and put them in their place, along with their pious symbolism, back into the muck and the mire. Consecrating them in the human condition where they originated.  After all if we've got to live in it, they're not getting off so easily." – Darwin Price        Darwinprice.net

Christopher Ellingson, Paintings

For me, painting is divine and it can’t be described by anything but itself. Amidst the flashes of color, turbulence, velocity, and stillness it teaches me new ways of experiencing the natural world. This is a mystery worth investigating.  christopherellingson.com

Christopher Kanyusik, Sculptures

Art bears greater power and relevance through ambiguity.  It transcends commonality by remaining open, provocative, and to a certain degree unclear and unfinished, rather than presenting a banal package complete with an image and a corresponding narrative, leaving little or no room for viewer engagement. My work is a product of and a participant in the historical tradition of sculptural art.  There exists within our collective, common artistic evolution a connection and camaraderie spanning past and present through our chosen subjects, and a tension between direct, reproductive modeling and abstract suggestion in our approach to the interpretations of the imagery we elect to use. The ambiguity I strive to employ in my work is actualized by a combination of elements from these two extremes.  On one side exists a literal depiction of an object, no more than a prop, involved in an explicit scenic narrative, an illustration with little or no conceptual provocation. On the opposite end of this spectrum is a kind of work so intent on being ambiguous that it looses any connection to any possibility or suggestion of conceptual tangibility, thus becoming unclear, encoded, and confusing, ultimately resulting in viewer disengagement, exclusion, and irrelevance.  The inclusion of ambiguity coupled with the implied or inherent content of recognizable forms allows my work to transcend the enclosed relationship between my self as the maker and it, as the object made.  An unspecified, ambiguous intent assists the accessibility of an artwork by engaging and including the viewer, recognizing their distinctly personal interpretation as an indispensable component in the manifestation of art.  chriskanyusik.com

About the music

“I enjoy playing quality music that tickles the ear but soothes the soul. I play various jazz, r&b, classic funk and deep house music. I have DJed all over the bay area and hope to continue to do so”
- Champagne        www.DJCHAMPAGNE.com