MyCow Solo Show at Nihon Gallery

 

Mike Howe a.k.a. MyCow will be showing for the month of June.

We kick things off with the opening reception on June 3rd from 5pm - 10pm.

We will announce more events for Mike and musical performances as well in the gallery.

Mike just finished a mural behind historical Tokyo Garden, see below.

Nihon Family member Jason Graham Show Closing

Jason Graham will be traveling all the way from Portland Oregon this weekend to appear at the closing party for his current show at Iron Bird Cafe.

New works by Graham are showcased and he will also be prevailing a new print as well as t-shirts at the closing party.

Mycow and Trumpet Solo will also be playing as the Cafe will be serving the always delicious coffee and food.

The Nihon Family will be there on hand to party as well.

Looking back at the I Want to Believe Show

Dominique Ovalle and Frank B. Tabarez's joint show "I Want To Believe" at Nihon Gallery showcased two artists whose works express intensely visceral yet intelligent--and at times, specific--perspectives of the boundless environment inherent within the human condition. The show opened on May 6 and closed Saturday, May 22.

Dominique Ovalle's oeuvre is typified by exploded colour pallets and mixed media choices, often converging into works that become three-dimensional, with found objects and fabric scraps destroying the typically defined boundaries of the two-dimensional canvas.

For a majority of her work in "I Want To Believe," Ms. Ovalle's strength was found in constraint of this methodology, as specific works that were framed and behind glass forced rigid borders for her work to flourish within. Those constrained works saw Ms. Ovalle reflecting on life through different sets of eyes: her own, as in "Happiness" and "XXX" (2010); the eyes of other cultures, beautifully captured in "Life" (2010), and the eyes of nature, as in "Sing, oh Barren One" (2010).

When Ms. Ovalle's work is outside of framed confines, she explores environments that exists in our natural world outside of human interference, and does not allow the constructs of canvas dimensions to interfere with her portrayal.

Frank B. Tabarez's work, according to his artist's statement, is a reflection on the people and environment of his hometown of Fresno, and a majority of his work is mired in intense contrasts. Stark color pallets and a reserved use of mixed media materials create bleak, encompassing canvas spaces that evoke engrossing psychological landscapes.

When Mr. Tabarez turns to the human form, his portraits are of barren figures, where details and expressions become obscured or even seemingly defaced. The figures float about in the space of the canvases, demanding the viewer's attention while offering few distinct answers as to their being. When Mr. Tabarez states that his work is about the "human condition and human psyche," the art itself crafts those questions and offers the mysteries to the viewer, evoking a nearly spiritual conversation about the self within the canvas.

That intensity of questioning is inherent in the works of both artists; as the desire to believe is never one to be taken lightly, here both Ms. Ovalle and Mr. Tabarez have produced works extremely dense, never taking on the issues of belief lightly, or in a flippant nature. The density of their individual crafts displays a dedication to this question of belief, and their works together showcase two sides to this universal, timeless query.

Writing by Daniel Schultz and images by Terrance Reimer

I Want To Believe - Dominique Ovalle & Frank Tabarez

Join Dominique Ovalle and Frank Tabarez as there art exhibition comes to an amazing close.

Come celebrate with the featured artists of Nihon Gallery for the month of May in the historic Chinatown as they invite you to come drink, eat and party on this sunny Saturday.

I Want To Believe includes paintings and mixed media work from Frank and Dominique as well as an installation piece. All work is for sale and the cash goes to the artists and back to the gallery to keep the doors open.

Come down and support the Nihon Gallery and the creative future of Chinatown.

Featured Nihon artist in I Want You Magazine

Brandon Drake is featured in I Want You Magazine. An online version as well as a print version are available now. Below are a few images featured for the article, hit the link for the full magazine spread.

iwantyoumagazine.com/brandon-drake/

Congrats to Brandon for this publication.

Looking Back at the 8 1/2 by eleven Show

Thoreau may have been right, saying: "This world is but a canvas to our imagination." However, the entire world is an unnecessarily large canvas for most local artists, as Nihon Gallery proved in late April.

On Saturday, April 24, over forty artists came together and submitted more than seventy works for Nihon Gallery's very first open-submission 8 1/2" by 11" show. Curated by Robert Amador, all works submitted to the gallery were shown, and the world--seen through the eyes of Fresno's most innovative and progressive artists--was condensed into individual pieces of art none larger than a typical sheet of office letterhead.

Submissions to the show included photographs, paintings, pen and ink drawings, mixed media works, and showcases of street and graffiti art. "We have semi-established artists mixed with those who only make art sometimes," explained Robert Amador, the curator of Nihon. Amador came up with the concept of the 8 1/2" by 11" show to provide a venue for local artists who may not have as many opportunities to publicly display their crafts.

From Dominique Ovalle's intricately detailed pen and ink portrait of a goddess, to Mike Howe's paintings as intensely structured as full-size wall murals; from Terrance Reimer's intimate photographs of Fresno terrain, to Bob Perro's hyper-kinetic snapshots of frozen moments at dance parties; from Brandon Drake's black and white screenprints evoking Xerox copies of scrambled cable signals, to Zach Welch's donated abstract paintings like sectioned sheets of rusted metal--these along with works from dozens of other artists in distinct mediums coincided within the gallery's walls, depicting an enormous array of Fresno art styles and local visual languages.

The show also found Nihon Gallery playing the position of catalyst, wherein the call for open submissions created an easy opportunity for more timid or perhaps less motivated local artists. "There's an advantage for people who would never otherwise show," claimed Steve Ruppel, the preparatory at Nihon. With an open, un-juried playing field, no one who was interested in being a part of the show had to worry about finding their work denied or passed over.

Writing by Daniel Schultz and images by Terrance Reimer