The McLoughlin Gallery presents “Portals of Wonder” a two-person exhibition featuring Pia Maria Martin and the team of Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti
Works on view September 22 – October 29, 2016
Artist Reception September 22nd 6-9pm
“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos” ― Stephen Sondheim
San Francisco, CA (Sept. 6, 2016) – In this exhibition, Portals of Wonder, a two-person exhibition, featuring the works of Pia Maria Martin and the team of Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti, you are invited to escape the realities of life and journey into their dream world. Each artist uses found objects in a uniquely creative manner transforming chaos into order.
German artist Martin’s stop motion films are regimented whimsical overtures in which innate objects coming to life. In “À Table”, a two channel video, shot with two super 16 mm cameras, Martin presents a dinner party without the physical presence of the diners from an aerial perspective. Plates, wine glasses, food and flatware are orchestrated to perform to the unique musical score through a 4-course meal. Representational of Martin’s work, her inanimate actors seamlessly weave together mimicking humanistic guises as the short story unfolds. Martin’s films are portals into an alternative universe where fish dance, chairs march in formation and spoons skate along the table tops encouraging us to escape reality if only momentarily.
Bay Area artistic team, Garlington and Bertotti, contribute ornately framed photographic pieces to the exhibition along with a large installation of a chapel wall reminiscent of the 40 ft. Totem of Confessions chapel displayed at Burning Man in 2015. The creation of sculpture is integral to their artistic process not only in the physical fabrication of the works but as adjuncts to the narrative. Strange, mysterious, timeless photographs embellished by ornamental frames of found objects including skulls, shells and figurines. The narratives of these photographic sculptures postulate the perceived reality; their portal of wonder.
“Totem of Confessions, Burning Man 2015, was whimsical and edgy. Beautiful close up and at a distance. People returned often. People wept. People tripped. You could get lost in the details. Garlington encouraged unbridled collaboration saying art is free and should be for everyone and everyone is capable of making art. I was a part of this experience and it’s changed me forever,” Susan Sarandon.
In today’s world it is not so easy to abscond the everyday. Portals of Wonder offers the occasion to do so in an artistic realm.