Cynthia Ona Innis: Fuse

Traywick Contemporary is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent paintings and works on paper by Bay Area artist Cynthia Ona Innis. This will be her second solo show with Traywick Contemporary.

Cynthia Ona Innis mines the physical manifestations of shifting terrains, geological phenomena and environmental transitions both above and below the Earth’s surface. From spouting geysers and active fault lines, to scorched deserts and bleached grasslands, she captures the power and possibilities of an environment that is constantly evolving.

While Innis’ work is very much about landscape, she is also interested in that fleeting moment when one thing becomes another. In her new series, Innis blurs the boundaries of abstraction and realism, and combines techniques of both painting and collage, all within an aesthetic that is simultaneously linear and painterly. She fluently intertwines multiple viewpoints, distances and scales within each piece. Soaring sky becomes sweeping land becomes endless sea, while at the same time, blazing sun dims to flat light and then fades into obscuring darkness.

Innis’ studio practice begins with the physical process of making her materials. Using both additive and reductive techniques, she paints, dyes and bleaches various fabrics and textiles to create areas of drips, spills and washes. Broad swaths of saturated pigment and thin strips of diffused color align and collide under multiple coats of varnishes and paint mediums. The resulting surface has a palpable texture and a striated depth that mirrors the geologically dynamic locales that are the artist’s inspiration. Innis presents our ever-changing surroundings as a tactile and a visual experience that seamlessly fuses light, time and motion.

Cynthia Ona Innis has exhibited her work extensively since receiving her fine arts degrees from University of California, Berkeley (BFA) and Rutgers University (MFA). Her exhibition history includes shows at The Drawing Center, NY; Skidmore College, NY; San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, CA. Her work is included in notable public collections such as the San Jose Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the U.S. Art in Embassies Program.