The San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture announced a solo show by Ukrainian-born Shipyard artist Elvira Dayel:
Meaningful Gestures
featuring artwork by Elvira Dayel
January 8 – February 23, 2024
The Caldwell Gallery, 400 County Center, Redwood City
Free and open to the public Monday-Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
curator@smcgov.org | Instagram: @smc_artsandculture
Artist statement from the announcement:
When confined in the body, spirit rises, vision expands. When defined by media parameters, long and narrow art defies constraints in order to create rhythm, bring unity, accentuate contrast, and seek new forms. Every thought and decision is in the linework. At times it longs to please the viewer, sometimes dares to anger them. The exhibition “Meaningful Gestures” is informed and inspired by the many events of the global wars, bloodshed, resistance of the civilized part of the world to the dangerous evil which showed us its terrible full face.
In times like these, when we all struggle for air, making art is my oxygen. It’s the breathing medium in which to exist. It’s uncompromising and unapologetic. Life throws curve-balls and poses questions which my art-making tries to address, without ever fully answering them. It usually points me in a direction, gives a thread to follow…
In my work it is usually the urban landscape that is deconstructed, flattened and re-assembled. Visual play of interlocking fields of limited-color palette, my vision of the world wants to be all-encompassing. I like to look at the world globally yet deal with it specifically through figures and current issues. Occasionally a human figure or multiple inhabit a given artwork. My interest lies in perceiving our environment as a construct, where my re-invented landscape becomes a new reality. Each piece is its own universe – a macro or a microcosm, it is reduced, calm, eerie and left alone. Each piece, while in the process of creation, is a deep and slow process of contemplation. It’s a slow cooker – no rush.
