Curator Michelle Bello is pleased to announce an installation of works by Stephanie Peek entitled Uniform Language, on view now through April 19, 2019, at Sloan Miyasato Fine Art in San Francisco.

In Uniform Language San Francisco based artist Stephanie Peek reclaims various patterns of concealment by recontextualizing the camouflage of troubled countries. With this single grouping of 45 oil paintings on alabaster-gessoed panels, Peek intends to transform these patterns from their military usage to a more peaceful purpose.

Each painting offers viewers a striking abstraction of patterns, leaving them unaware that they are also viewing close-ups of an overall pattern appropriated from military camouflage. Although Peek takes artistic license, they nonetheless reveal the individuality underlying each country’s original design. At first glance, these paintings also appear markedly different from Peek’s signature paintings of flowers and gardens. But, as one looks closely, one sees that all her work is about the perception of the natural environment–from content to pattern, realism to abstraction.

Above: Stephanie Peek, Uniform Language, 2001-2018 (Installation View)
Oil on Alabaster-Gessoed Panel, 10 x 10 Inches Each

North Korea

USA (Night Operations)

Iraq (Suicide Commando)

Iran (Night Song)

Zaire

Afghanistan

For this series Peek researched the design history and spread of camouflage. She says, “Early in the 20th century, the United States military adapted the nature studies of American painter Abbot Thayer to conceal ships, weapons, and soldiers. Since then, governments throughout the world have hired artists and designers to create camouflage specific to the variety of environments and climates in which they operate. When seen together, these patterns strikingly represent the vast diversity of our natural and man-made environments.”

Peek began painting camouflage patterns in response to 9/11. More recently, political events have caused her to revisit and expand upon that work to create these panels. In the context of today’s political climate, the concept of camouflage reminds us of how political language and action can literally and figuratively conceal threats to our basic human and democratic rights. In this body of work, she suggests that the creation of an enemy is itself an abstraction, and asks us to consider that there may be a deeper pattern uniting us all.

Stephanie Peek, Uniform Language, 2001-2017 (Installation View)
Oil on Alabaster-Gessoed Panel, 10 x 10 Inches Each

Stephanie Peek, Uniform Language, 2001-2017 (Installation View)
Left to Right, Top to Bottom: USA (Chocolate Chip), USA (Desert), Palestine, Lithuania, Sudan, Cuba
Oil on Alabaster-Gessoed Panel, 10 x 10 Inches Each

Stephanie Peek, Uniform Language, 2001-2017 (Installation View)
Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Israel, Russia, Zimbabwe, Iraq (Suicide Commando), Mexico, USA (Allover)
Oil on Alabaster-Gessoed Panel, 10 x 10 Inches Each

Artist Stephanie Peek – Frank Wing Photography

Peek graduated with an MFA in painting from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in Art History from Wellesley College, Boston. Her work shows regularly in galleries and museums nationally and internationally including the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Diego, and the Museo Italo-Americano in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Contemporary Museum of Art in Prato, Italy and is in private collections worldwide. Awards and honors include Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, Borso di Studio in Florence, Italy, J. Ruth Kelsey Travel Grant, Susan B. Irwin Scholarship in the Visual Arts, Virginia McPheter-Stoltz Fellowship, and she has been nominated twice for the SECA award at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Other Available Works by Stephanie Peek at Sloan Miyasato

Stephanie Peek, Falling Leaves, 2005, Oil on Linen, 60 x 56 Inches – After an artist’s residency in Florence, Italy, Peek attempted some ambitious paintings of ornate gardens. In trying to simplify the abundance of eye-dazzling flora before her, she painted the pivotal Falling Leaves which led her half-way down the path to painting her camouflage series.

Stephanie Peek, Tulipmania, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 45 x 45 Inches

Stephanie Peek, Midnight Forest, 2017, Oil on Canvas, 70 x 52 Inches

Sloan Miyasato Fine Art

Located in the heart of San Francisco’s vibrant design and art district, Sloan Miyasato is a premier destination for distinctive custom furnishings and fine art. For the past 40 years this venerable showroom has offered a portfolio of international furnishings that embodies innovation, excellence, and style, securing its place among the elite sources on the West Coast.

In 1997 independent art advisor Michelle Bello pioneered the first art program to be independently curated inside the San Francisco Design Center, and Sloan Miyasato devoted their galleries as much to contemporary fine art as furnishings. With more than 25 years of professional art market expertise, and as a former director of two San Francisco galleries and longtime art advisor, Bello saw a need to bring fine art directly into the design center, making acquiring art more convenient for busy design professionals and their clients. This venue also offers a user-friendly alternative to the white walls of art galleries, helping collectors more easily envision art in their homes or other environments.

Above: Miya Ando, Gold Moon Mandala, 2016, 23k Gold, Pigment, Dye, Urethane, Resin, Stainless Steel, 48″

Summer solstice is here and, while others frolic, feast, and celebrate with myriad rituals, we make an offering of art. Our current show is a cosmos of talent.

Observe Joe Brubaker’s Dark Moon works from his latest sculptural phase. David Becker, a newcomer to the gallery, dominates our space with his stellar Black Daisy painting. Diane Tate DallasKidd offers up a fiber piece in bonfire red, and Robert Charles Dunahay’s geometric abstractions glitter like the night sky. Miya Ando’s super moon glows golden whether near or far, while her bodhi leaf meditation mandalas embody the universe with their geometric forms. Sculptor David Kimball Anderson likewise brings flora into our world with his painted steel still life replete with planets–or whatever you wish to see or believe.

Visit Sloan Miyasato in San Francisco to view these works, and 150 more by other artists. With this constellation of fine art, curated by Michelle Bello, the sky’s the limit.

Sloan Miyasato Fine Art Installation View

Diane Tate DallasKidd, Untitled (Red, No.1), 2018
Acrylic Paint on Hand-Knotted Linen Threads, Brass, 44 x 9 Inches

David Becker, Black Daisy 1, 2015, (Installation View) Acrylic Paint on Canvas, 86 x 86 Inches

David Kimball Anderson, Summer Astronomy, 2018, Bronze, Steel, Paint, 33 x 13 x 12 Inches

Joe Brubaker, Dark Moon 3, 2017, Cedar, Black Paint, Rubbed Graphite, 20 x 16 x 3 Inches

Robert Charles Dunahay, On Leisurely Drive, 2017, (Installation View)
Mixed Media on Canvas, 64 x 64 Inches

Miya Ando, Grey Black White Meditation Mandala, 2018, Dyed, Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa) Skeleton Leaves, Monofilament, Archival Ragboard, 62 x 62 x 2 Inches (Framed)

Miya Ando, Red Orange Mandala, Violet Mandala, Murasaki Meditation Mandala, 2015, Dyed Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa) Skeleton Leaves, Monofilament, and Archival Ragboard, 41 x 41 x 2 Inches Each

Squeak Carnwath, Elvis, 2017, Oil and Alkyd with 24-Karat Gold Leaf

on Canvas over Panel, 70 x 70 Inches

Sloan Miyasato Fine Art Installation View

Never one to shy away from making headlines, Squeak Carnwath is gracing the pages of Nob Hill Gazette as one of four San Francisco Bay Area art icons.

Her distinctive style has long attracted attention with its riot of color, text, patterns, and identifiable images. But for all their humor and playfulness, her paintings also give us pause. Drawing upon the philosophical and mundane experiences of daily life, Carnwath delves deep into our collective subconscious.

Pants on Fire, her most recent series, follows in the footsteps of her earlier works, only on steroids. These are crazy making. We laugh or scream louder and are left speechless. What can you say? Painting them was cathartic for Carnwath who (spoiler alert) in her studio listens nonstop to news and music.

Music has clearly taken center stage with Carnwath’s other recent body of work the Song Paintings. “Basically I am searching for the perfect playlist. It’s fun to turn that into a painting. I love how the song titles turn the works into one big poem.”

Hanging alongside her Liar works and a group of her earlier hits, drop by Sloan Miyasato soon to see these wonderful paintings curated by Michelle Bello. Why?
They sing.

Squeak Carnwath, Little Baby, 2016, Oil and Alkyd on Canvas over Panel, 30 x 30 Inches

Squeak Carnwath, Pants on Fire 59, 2017, Oil and Alkyd on Clayboard, 20 x 16 Inches

Squeak Carnwath, Pants on Fire 32, 2017, Oil and Alkyd on Canvas, 12 x 12 Inches

Squeak Carnwath, Pants on Fire, Oil and Alkyd on Canvas,
Approx. 12 x 12 Inches Each Variable, Available Individually

Squeak Carnwath

Squeak Carnwath draws upon the philosophical and mundane experiences of daily life in her paintings and prints, which can be identified by lush fields of color combined with text, patterns, and identifiable images. A Professor Emerita at the University of California, she has received numerous awards including the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, two Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Award for Individual Artists from the Flintridge Foundation. She has exhibited widely throughout the country and her work is held in significant public collections including the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Oakland Museum of California, Microsoft Corporation, Rene and Veronica de Rosa Collection, Brooklyn Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ROBERT CHARLES DUNAHAY
On Leisurely Drive, 2017
Mixed Media on Canvas
64 x 64 Inches

(Detail)
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MATT GIL
Catsuit, 2013
Cast Aluminum
33 x 20 x 10 Inches
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CHRISTEL DILLBOHNER
Lost Coast VII – Icy Cliff, 2014
Oil, Wax on Wood
48 x 48 Inches
_____

MARK SEELY
Weather Overground, 2016
Oil on Panel
60 x 48 Inches
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TOR ARCHER
Celestial Venus, 2016
Melted Solder over Plaster on Granite Base
37 x 9 x 9 Inches

(Detail)

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Improvisational and passionate, the recent abstract paintings of Yari Ostovany
straddle a nebulous realm between the mysterious, mystical, and spiritual. In the studio, Ostovany strives to lose himself and cross into the unconscious–both the personal and collective. Painting to him is an intimate journey of exploration through the alchemy of color, light, texture, and the poetics of space. As his journey ends, ours begins.

Above: Yari Ostovany, Simorgh Descending V, 2016
Oil on Canvas, 80 x 80 Inches

Yari Ostovany, Simorgh Ascending, 2017
Oil on Canvas, 90 x 48 Inches

“My work has to do with the dichotomy of light and gravity and the quest for Lux Aeterna, or self-generating light, rather than one coming from an external source,” says Ostovany. “Each series has its origin in an emotional or cognitive spark, an experience which is used as a point of departure leading to gestural outbursts and atmospheric passages.”

Yari Ostovany, Monument to a Poet, 2017
Oil on Canvas, 72 x 72 Inches

Works are made over time with layers upon layers of thick and thin washes and glazes, providing both luminous and opaque passages. Often starting with gestural marks, these solid forms then dissolve as the layers explode and implode by adding, rubbing out, reapplying, scouring into, and scraping away. This practice of going back and forth only stops when Ostovany senses the whole has become greater that the sum of its parts.

Yari Ostovany, Chelleneshin 37, 2016
Oil on Canvas, 48 x 36 Inches

Ostovany says, “I see abstraction as representational insofar as it is a representation of a psychic state, not an external reality. The trajectories in contemporary painting in which my work belongs range from Abstract Expressionism in the west to Persian, Taoist, and Zen aesthetic sensibilities in the East, and other perennial visionary paths of wisdom.”

Yari Ostovany, Prometheus, 2017
Oil on Canvas, 48 x 35 Inches

Yari Ostovany, The Crossing, 2017
Oil on Canvas, 77 x 95 Inches

Yari Ostovany, The Valley of Yearning, 2017
Oil on Canvas, 48 x 90 Inches

Photograph of Yari Ostovany by Dariush Nehdaran

Born in Iran in 1962, Yari Ostovany moved to the United States at the age of 16. He first studied art at the University of Nevada in Reno, and then received his MFA at the San Francisco Art institute in 1995. Based in Cologne, Germany, from 2000 to 2004, Ostovany currently lives and works in Berkeley, California. He has taught, traveled, and exhibited his art extensively in the United States and internationally. His work is held in numerous personal and permanent collections around the world.

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