Upcoming: Bradley Platz' 'Blood & Marble' Opening September 15th

Upcoming: Blood & Marble: Bradley Platz Solo Exhibition

Opening Reception: Saturday September 15, 2012, 6-10 pm

Exhibition Dates: September 15 - October 21, 2012

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 11a - 7pm

Modern Eden is proud to present an exhibition of new works by San Francisco based artist and gallery co-founder Bradley Platz.  This series of ten new works on linen entitled 'Blood & Marble' explores the idea of classical decay in the modern age.  These painstakingly detailed paintings feature portrait busts offset by elements of life; hints of blood, an interrogative gaze, scarred flesh and perched birds that all add a subtle color and life force to the cold marble subjects.

(Detail)

 These are portraits of the forgotten idols, the pieces of the past meant to preserve the highest order of our human ideals. As we move stubbornly forward in time and generations pass on, we see our crowned achievements of art and culture as dust.  The rate of decay is governed only by the constitution of the material, be it flesh or marble. These paintings are about interpreting the fragility of our idols and examining them from a humanist perspective. In the end, entropy prevails and only by finding beauty in decay and re-interpreting it do we carry on the indomitable human spirit of progress and artistic pursuit of beauty.

"Heritage" © 2012

The subjects stand as compromised martyrs, moments frozen in time.  Pacifists, they were once observers and are now the eternally observed. Stolid, cold marble with fixed emotion, they bear the changing seasons and cycles of time uncelebrated, unobtrusive but exposed. They are effigies from a lost age, relics of a classical system and now they stand as monuments to modern decay.  These are our gods, our flawed icons, our higher aspirations of self, whose cold marble bears the weight of time more slowly than the flesh, but nevertheless suffer as we suffer and bleed as we bleed.

 "The Red Necklace" © 2012

From the artist: "The Blood and Marble series was born out of my 2011 piece 'Bloody Mary'.  This painting was the first using my technique of selectively primed linen.  Something about the contrast between the developed painted surface and the soft, raw linen was interesting to me both visually and metaphorically.  There is a stillness and a heaviness that I enjoy in classical art and it is with homage to this, and with respect, that I let the past inform the modern.  My work is influenced by the progression of time and the intricate language of symbols both personal and universal.  To me, paintings are reliquaries for ideas and history is always involved"

The opening reception for "Blood & Marble" will be held at Modern Eden on Saturday, September 15th from 6-10pm. The exhibition will be on display through October 21, 2012 and is free and open to the public. Complimentary drinks will be served by Rolling Rock and Three Wishes.  There will be an accompanying special musical performance by DJ Brendan J. during the reception. Exhibiting artist, Bradley Platz will be in attendance.

 Studio Shot, Works in Progress

For more information please contact Modern Eden: (415) 956-3303, Info@ModernEden.com