McKenzie Fine Art Opens Angie Drakopoulos and Daniel Hill Exhibition Today, 11/9

McKenzie Fine Art has announced a two-person exhibition of paintings by Angie Drakopoulos and Daniel Hill. The exhibition will open today, November 9th, with a reception for the artists from 6 to 8 p.m., and will run through Friday, December 21st, 2012.

The paintings of Angie Drakopoulos and Daniel Hill are inspired by patterns found in nature, interactions described by physics and systems of Eastern thought. Drawing from these sources, each creates intricate work that suggests the mysterious, hidden forces permeating the universe. In Drakopoulos’s work complex structures emerge from layers of paint and resin, while in Hill’s paintings, line after line radiate and ripple across the surface.

Angie Drakopoulos’s symmetrical compositions begin with the selection of discreet visual elements from the nature world and the sciences, as well as diagrams describing philosophical thought. She digitally modifies and reorders multiple images to distill a structure or pattern, then combines and connects the elements within a single painting. Structures are created from intricately painted dotted lines or patterned fields which are suspended in a matrix of clear resin. The delicate arabesques and networks of paint recede into the depths of the thick resin. Each of the ornate dimensional constructions hints at matter or energy beyond ordinary perception: a dance of sub-atomic particles or invisible fields distorting time and space. In recent paintings, Drakopoulos has introduced a background color to increase the association with energetically flowing fields. Instead of a literal description, she considers her work to be a reflection of a delicate instant of potential:

This moment is temporary, a state of transition. The form will subsequently dissolve and the process will begin again. The central images that appear in my work describe this moment of emergence. They are not a representation of actual cosmic phenomena but rather an invented image of an inner mindscape.

Daniel Hill’s interests in physics, natural pattern formation and meditation have coalesced in visual depictions of sound. In an act of “willed synesthesia,” he applies acrylic paint from squeeze bottles using rules of his own design, developed over many years. Complex patterns in white, black and gray tones emerge from a set of simple rules. The careful cyclical motions of his hand produce uniform painted lines that undulate outward like waves of energy. These lines echo and reverberate, forming areas of dense interlacing where they intersect one another.

Throughout this meditative process I allow room for the unexpected uniqueness of each piece to develop, which may come from the inherent qualities of my materials and their particular mixtures, speed and timing of execution, surrounding physical qualities such as temperature and humidity, as well as the level of my concentration. The final product recalls patterns which we are surrounded by but rarely notice or even see, such as: gravity, sound, light, water, air, magnetism, or thought, emotions, breath or pulse.

Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; on Sundays the gallery opens at noon. Monday and Tuesday are by appointment.

Pictured: Angie Drakopoulos. Akasha 2, 2012. Mixed media and resin on plexiglass. 18 x 24 inches.