PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/15/18 Emotionally Driven Urban Artwork from ShawNshawN and Michael Sacramento in “Visceral City” Berkeley, CA – 4th Street Fine Art is pleased to present “Visceral City”, an art exhibition featuring the works of two of its artists: ShawNshawN and Michael Sacramento. The exhibition runs June 23 to August 3, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 23, 6 to 8pm. Visceral City is an art exhibition featuring the emotionally driven artwork of ShawNshawN and Michael Sacramento as inspired by their urban environment. ShawNshawN observes and paints with a perspective, which dwells on personal pain and deep insight to his society. Michael acts as a recorder and interpreter of his immediate day-to-day surroundings. Being that they both live in the same environment, which is the San Francisco Bay Area, they share similar visual inspirations. However, the aesthetics of their artwork is nuanced by their response to their ocular cues. ShawNshawN tends to focus on creating abstract surfaces that are inspired by his urban lifestyle. Michael focuses on the collage of surfaces and images. Together, ShawNshawN and Michael's exhibition aims to provide viewers new lenses in which to see their world and inspire them to be more keenly aware of their emotions as they experience their urban lives. ShawNshawN works the paintings starting in brushwork as an initial layer and then scrapes with metal tools the surface of the canvas. The tools used are the basis of architecture and finishing cement, so you could say these are the basis of a city construction. Quiet often the whole surface is continually in action without an easy place to rest the eyes. This reflects the vivid emotional response of the artist to his environment in the city, kind of a love/hate relationship; he loves the access to great art, museums, but struggles with the crowded highways and congested spaces of the cityscape. This is his visceral reaction to the city. Visceral City. Michael Sacramento’s collaged paintings are created with fragments of images, objects, textures and colors that are inspired by his day-to-day observations—from street scenes, billboards and posters to often overlooked surfaces, birds and architectural elements. The process of collecting and finding inspiration from these visual cues, then using them to create a new visual experience, is his choice of intuitive self expression. Consequently this body of work can be perceived as an analogy of the human experience and how independent entities can be interdependent to create a higher, more textured and layered existence. In 2002, the studio opened as The Art Gym, at 1717 Fourth Street. It was created to offer an affordable atmosphere for artists to create art and network with other artists. It blossomed into a place where visitors can watch artists work while perusing works for sale or sign up for classes. In 2012 it moved to its current location, 2000 Fourth Street where it morphed into an artist-owned and operated cooperative known as 4th Street Fine Art. The venue has monthly exhibitions featuring artists and various themes. “Visceral City” exhibition runs June 23 to August 3, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 23, 6 to 8pm. Gallery hours are Friday – Sunday 11am – 6:00pm, and by appointment. For additional information please contact Michael Sacramento, 510.384.6360. ###
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