The Art Museum of Los Gatos features an unexpected juxtaposition of exhibits through July 31: On the Rocks, featuring the detailed oil paintings of Rosalie Lang, and Behind Closed Doors, fine art surgical photography by Shelley D. Spray. Both exhibits have been much anticipated.
Lang's textured oil paintings, celebrating the intricate beauty of the California coast between Big Sur and Pescadero, look almost three dimensional. Her paintings highlight the varied ways natural rock formations "mark the land," subtly defining meeting points between land and sea.
The Behind Closed Doors exhibit comes to Los Gatos following showings in Geneva, Switzerland, and Lyon, France. The photographs make us witness to open heart, brain, knee and eye surgeries, but many are so abstract there is no reason to be squeamish.
Rosalie Lang
Rosalie Lang's paintings are realistic renderings of natural elements such as rocks, pebbles, cliffs and water which have been magnified to reveal their unique subtleties.
“For me this 'close-up' approach to handling subject matter visually unlocks a world of drama far removed from that which one readily perceives," Lang says. "It is the essence of that world which continues to challenge my sensibilities as a painter. Researching the imagery for this series pushed my vision in new directions--to see more detail, to find intricate relationships among things normally unnoticed."
Although a longtime resident of California, Lang was born in New York and spent many summers in the Hudson River Valley, where she first became fascinated by rocks. After earning a bachelor of arts degree at Queen's, she studied painting and photography at the Pratt Institute.
Lang's paintings have been featured in Bay Area galleries and at Stanford University, Cabrillo College Art Gallery, Davis Art Center, the Monterey Museum of Art, and the Art Museum of Los Gatos. Her work is also part of prominent corporate collections, including Pacific Bell, Syntex, 3M, Conner Peripherals, Seagate Technology, Failure Analysis and Amdahl.
Shelley D. Spray
"Knowing I am a breast cancer survivor seems important when I share how I began photographing surgery," explains Shelley Spray, a Los Gatos business consultant. "It was through my diagnosis that I found the courage to begin a new life which got me started in photography. I also want my story to show other women that amazing, wonderful changes can happen after you have learned you have breast cancer. I never would have started photographing if I had not been diagnosed and it's become an important part of my life and who I am."
Spray's photographs are haunting, the result of a special technique rather than retouching in Photoshop.
"When photographing, I move silently around the operating room. I never use a flash and have found that by using only the natural ambient light, I can capture an incredible world that can only be seen through the lens of my camera. It's not easy, as the room lighting is harsh and the subjects are moving fast, continually blocking the light."
International critics have compared Spray's work to the 17th Century French painter Georges La Tour, known for his paintings of figures caught magically in the light and shadow of a flickering candle flame.
Spray will reveal some of the techniques she uses at a lecture June 28 from 7 to 8 p.m.
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