Artist reception Sat, Feb 2, 4-6pm; Exhibition Feb 2 - Mar 16, 2019 (Tues, Weds, Fri, Sat from 10am-5:30pm, Thurs from 11am-7pm)
Internationally recognized for his innovative drawing practice, Russell Crotty presents a new body of work that combines his fascination with space exploration and concerns about environmental degradation from the viewpoint of an accomplished amateur astronomer, passionate surfer and native Californian.
The central motif of this exhibition is imagined planetary landers-representing the thrill and promise of exploration as well as the perils our world faces. Informed by his own observational experience and that of scientists who surmise worlds that might exist beyond our own, his robotic explorers navigate hostile, submarine-like environments awash in toxic Kool-Aid-colored atmospheres. But their whimsical, futuristic architecture also recalls the optimism of mid-century California design, the Googie architecture of John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Saarinen, and Hanna Barbera's influential animation, The Jetsons.
Like the fastidiously inked globes for which he became famous, Crotty's new work is equally object and drawing. Meticulous depictions of rockets, celestial bodies, smoke stacks and planetary landscapes are collaged to build the structure of the rovers, which are then embedded in bio-resin-a technique similar to that used in finishing surfboards. Despite this reference to "finish fetish," he incorporates enough chance in these works to suggest the unintended consequences of humanity's (mis)use of our planet and the unknowable results of exploration.
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Internationally recognized for his innovative drawing practice, Russell Crotty presents a new body of work that combines his fascination with space exploration and concerns about environmental degradation from the viewpoint of an accomplished amateur astronomer, passionate surfer and native Californian.
The central motif of this exhibition is imagined planetary landers-representing the thrill and promise of exploration as well as the perils our world faces. Informed by his own observational experience and that of scientists who surmise worlds that might exist beyond our own, his robotic explorers navigate hostile, submarine-like environments awash in toxic Kool-Aid-colored atmospheres. But their whimsical, futuristic architecture also recalls the optimism of mid-century California design, the Googie architecture of John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Saarinen, and Hanna Barbera's influential animation, The Jetsons.
Like the fastidiously inked globes for which he became famous, Crotty's new work is equally object and drawing. Meticulous depictions of rockets, celestial bodies, smoke stacks and planetary landscapes are collaged to build the structure of the rovers, which are then embedded in bio-resin-a technique similar to that used in finishing surfboards. Despite this reference to "finish fetish," he incorporates enough chance in these works to suggest the unintended consequences of humanity's (mis)use of our planet and the unknowable results of exploration.
Artist reception Sat, Feb 2, 4-6pm; Exhibition Feb 2 - Mar 16, 2019 (Tues, Weds, Fri, Sat from 10am-5:30pm, Thurs from 11am-7pm)
Internationally recognized for his innovative drawing practice, Russell Crotty presents a new body of work that combines his fascination with space exploration and concerns about environmental degradation from the viewpoint of an accomplished amateur astronomer, passionate surfer and native Californian.
The central motif of this exhibition is imagined planetary landers-representing the thrill and promise of exploration as well as the perils our world faces. Informed by his own observational experience and that of scientists who surmise worlds that might exist beyond our own, his robotic explorers navigate hostile, submarine-like environments awash in toxic Kool-Aid-colored atmospheres. But their whimsical, futuristic architecture also recalls the optimism of mid-century California design, the Googie architecture of John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Saarinen, and Hanna Barbera's influential animation, The Jetsons.
Like the fastidiously inked globes for which he became famous, Crotty's new work is equally object and drawing. Meticulous depictions of rockets, celestial bodies, smoke stacks and planetary landscapes are collaged to build the structure of the rovers, which are then embedded in bio-resin-a technique similar to that used in finishing surfboards. Despite this reference to "finish fetish," he incorporates enough chance in these works to suggest the unintended consequences of humanity's (mis)use of our planet and the unknowable results of exploration.
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Internationally recognized for his innovative drawing practice, Russell Crotty presents a new body of work that combines his fascination with space exploration and concerns about environmental degradation from the viewpoint of an accomplished amateur astronomer, passionate surfer and native Californian.
The central motif of this exhibition is imagined planetary landers-representing the thrill and promise of exploration as well as the perils our world faces. Informed by his own observational experience and that of scientists who surmise worlds that might exist beyond our own, his robotic explorers navigate hostile, submarine-like environments awash in toxic Kool-Aid-colored atmospheres. But their whimsical, futuristic architecture also recalls the optimism of mid-century California design, the Googie architecture of John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Saarinen, and Hanna Barbera's influential animation, The Jetsons.
Like the fastidiously inked globes for which he became famous, Crotty's new work is equally object and drawing. Meticulous depictions of rockets, celestial bodies, smoke stacks and planetary landscapes are collaged to build the structure of the rovers, which are then embedded in bio-resin-a technique similar to that used in finishing surfboards. Despite this reference to "finish fetish," he incorporates enough chance in these works to suggest the unintended consequences of humanity's (mis)use of our planet and the unknowable results of exploration.
show less
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260 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
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