Rosemary Allen & Carolyn King: “Explorations”

The Mendocino Art Center presents “Explorations,” an exhibition featuring new abstract paintings by Rosemary Allen, accompanied by Carolyn King’s sculptural works created from natural materials, November 5-29, in the Main Gallery.

Held in conjunction with “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” an exhibition of collage works by Mendocino heritage artist Dorr Bothwell in the Mendocino Art Center’s Nichols Gallery.

The abstract paintings Rosemary has included in the show are earnest explorations of space and color relationships, and content has been a consequence of this exploration. Rosemary builds up and destroys images on the canvas letting layers of paint beneath the surface bare themselves or remain partially veiled. The rich texture and sense of history comes from these repeated actions and impulses. She often chooses colors and shapes that conflict and then battles with them until they submit. This brings energy to the work, keeping it gestural, active, moving.

“My emphasis this year is simplicity,” Rosemary explains. “Using gestural abstraction brushstrokes, I have kept the oil pigments traveling on the canvas while maintaining compositions as simple as possible. Hopefully, this process allows the color to be harmonious, not taking over the show. In this process I feel like I am taming tigers! When any of the colors refuse to be tamed, I paint over it and start again. I want the work to appear fresh and clean even though it has been labored over for weeks.”

Carolyn is best known for her sculptures that refer to the natural world through their shape and use of material. “Nature inspires my art,” Carolyn says. “Associations and references to the human condition such change and impermanence found in nature add a dimension of meaning I find essential to my pieces. I use natural materials such as wood, roots, pine needles and skeletonized leaves which I often combine with other shapes I fabricate to explore formal considerations and concepts about the environment. My hope is to affect an awareness and appreciation of our interconnectedness with the natural world through my art.”