Opening up this Saturday is the exhibit Muses and Madness in Berkeley at SR2 Gallery. It is a solo show of work by the artist Patrushka, featuring many interesting and arresting portrait-based works. Her themes are diverse and include environmental concerns, crime mugshots, celebrities and fairy tales.
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 16th, 7- 9 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 16th – April 28th, 2013
Working in many medias, from scratchboard to oil painting, Patrushka has created an eclectic array of images for this exhibition. Fascinated with the ying and yang of life, the skull beneath the smile, the dark within the light and the good as well as the bad. Patrushka draws upon pop culture, politics, music, emotions, the human face and our natural world for inspiration.
The theme for this exhibit is a divergent binary: “Muses & Madness”. Muses focuses on artists, musicians, friends, cultural icons, causes and celebrities that she admires. Whether it be their artworks, their songs, their image or their happenstance in life – all have inspired and moved Patrushka to capture them in paint. Madness is used in a literal and a generalized way and focuses on the dark and sometimes violent side of mankind, and the many gradations of insanity – whether it be in the way we treat our environment or in the way we treat those who dare to be different. Violent criminals, threatened species, abused women, emotive portraits and misfit personas whose “madness” has consumed them, all have found a place in Patrushka’s world. The body of work crosses the boundaries of the human condition, celebrating the wonderful and the weird, embracing the whole oddity that is humanity. – Via Sacred Rose Gallery
SF Bay Arts 