Seven Year Itch: Michael Stevens and Suzanne Adan

September 11 – October 26, 2013

Mark your calendars!!!

We are pleased to announce the opening of an exciting exhibit of new work by (husband and wife) Sacramento artists Michael Stevens and Suzanne Adan. It has been SEVEN years since these two gifted artists exhibited solo–and their fans can hardly wait!

Artists’ reception: Thursday, September 12, 5pm to 7pm

Second Saturday reception: September 14, 6pm to 8pm

Stevens brings us predominately wood narratives that also incorporate the use of vintage art reproductions as their backdrop. These finely crafted tableaus “trace the human condition, the predicament we all share living in these bodies we call home.” Combining American Folk art and images from vintage Pop Culture, Stevens tells stories with beautifully honed wood components linked to familiar simplified almost cartoon-like characters that can make you laugh–or cry. Not only does Stevens work well three dimensionally, but he also enhances the imagery with finely painted embellishments. His work can be found in several public collections including the di Rosa Preserve, Oakland Museum, Crocker Museum, Kidder Peabody, NYC, and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He received a BA in painting and an MA in sculpture from CSU Sacramento. He has shown at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, Allan Frumpkin in Chicago, Palo Alto Cultural Center and the Oakland Museum. His many solo exhibits include several times at the Braunstein Quay Gallery in San Francisco.

Adan also received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at CSU Sacramento. She has exhibited widely including solo shows at Betsy Rosenfield in Chicago, John Berggruen in San Francisco, and several times at Michael Himovitz here in Sacramento, as well as group exhibits at Braunstein Quay in San Francisco, Jan Baum in Los Angeles, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, and Fuller Goldeen in San Francisco. Her paintings are obsessively crafted with very thick applications of oil. Her imagery includes everyday objects floating in surreal landscapes painted in a contemporary primitive style which draws from folk art and cartoons. The palette is limited giving the work a very graphic quality that is elegant and sophisticated. Her work can be found in the collections of the Crocker Art Museum, California State Fair, Continental Bank, Huston, TX, and Impact Communications, Chicago, Ill. Her public art projects include the New Terminal at the Sacramento International Airport, the East End Project and the University of California, Davis.

Categories: 2013, Exhibitions