New Group Art Exhibition Blue" Opens at Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art, in San Francisco, CA October 5th - December 5th, 2005

Blue", a group art exhibition featuring new works by Eric Blum, Erin Parish, Alex Weinstein and Nina Zurier along with gallery artists Robert Larson, Katherine Leighnor, Miguel Osuna, Astrid Preston, and others. The exhibition, which explores the concepts, meanings and effects associated with the color blue in art, opens on October 6, 2005 and will run through December 5, 2005. A reception for the artists will be held on Thursday, October 6th from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 23, 2005 -- Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art is pleased to announce Blue", a group exhibition featuring new works by Eric Blum, Erin Parish, Alex Weinstein and Nina Zurier along with gallery artists Robert Larson, Katherine Leighnor, Miguel Osuna, Astrid Preston, and others. The exhibition, which explores the concepts, meanings and effects associated with the color blue in art, opens on October 6, 2005 and will run through December 5, 2005. A reception for the artists will be held on Thursday, October 6th from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

The history, value, and meaning of the color blue are continually evolving concepts, engendered by political and cultural constructions. The ancient Greeks scorned the color blue as ugly and barbaric; yet in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, blue was considered to be a warm and precious color. As blue gradually replaced green as the principal color associated with water, it simultaneously adopted a new identity as a cool hue. Beginning in the twelfth century, blue became associated with the cosmos, spirituality and became the color of royalty in France, Germany and Italy. During the American and French revolutions, blue was designated as a symbol of progress, enlightenment and liberty.

Western color symbolism associates blue with a myriad of characteristics and concepts such as peace, melancholy, the infinite, nobility, and democracy. Picassos Blue Period, which lasted approximately from 1900 to 1904, is one of the most popular references to blue in Modern Art. During this time, Picasso used the color blue to symbolize feelings of misery and sadness in his paintings, which predominantly illustrated alienated members of society. Mark Rothko utilized blue to evoke the emotional effects of isolation, distance and melancholy. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, for their work The Umbrellas (1984-1991), placed 1, 340 blue umbrellas along the Sato River Valley in Japan to reflect the fertility of the well watered landscape.

In this exhibition, Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art continues to investigate the evolving identity of blue by providing a forum for contemporary artists to present their interpretations in painting, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

Eric Blum, Erin Parish and Nina Zurier, are a few of the acclaimed artists are debuting at Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art. While Mr. Blum and Ms. Parish are both based in New York, Ms. Zurier is a local artist who lives and works in Berkeley. All three artists are in the collection of local restauranteur Gary Danko.

Eric Blum was born in Fresno, California. For his paintings in Blue," Eric Blum employed layers of watercolor and beeswax in varied shades of blue to evoke weightless and distant worlds. His paintings are reminiscent of both sensations and constellations, be they interior or exterior landscapes. Of his work, Mr. Blum writes, What compels me to make paintings the way I do is no doubt my fascination with the quality of things that implode." Eric Blum recently had his first solo exhibition at Lemmons Contemporary, New York, NY in September 2005. He currently lives in New York.

Erin Parish was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Erin Parishs painting Atlantis at Last (2005) is a lyrical meditation on both the worldly and the ethereal. Painted with both oil and epoxy resin in a vibrant range of blues, the painting evokes the sea, sky and the infinite. The dynamic play between opacity and translucence in Atlantis at Last creates a fragmented mosaic, evocative of a lost world. Describing Parishs work, Grady T. Turrier writes for Art in America, The affinities of Parishs sky and sea are unabashedly transcendental, and she is equally willing to probe psychic depths....Moving from the ethereal to the physical, Parish conveys a rare unalloyed faith in the spirituality of abstract art." She is concurrently exhibiting her work in a solo show at Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY. She lives and works in New York.

Nina Zurier was born in Pennsylvania. She received her B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute and currently teaches there. Her photographic works in this exhibition, three pieces from her Foam series (2003) and a diptych from her Pool series (2004), are abstractions shot with a digital camera.

These works are images of immateriality, yet they simultaneously evoke a sense of physicality. By manipulating the focus and her proximity to the subject, Ms. Zurier creates fields of color which contain figurative references. In Foam, the nebulous shapes of the foam are reminiscent of the curves of the body. While in the Pool diptych, the ripples in the water and the dynamic lines in the pool create vein like patterns. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including a recent solo show at Gallery Saintonge in Missoula, MT.

About the Gallery

Located in the Hotel Nikko at 222 Mason Street, Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art specializes in contemporary painting, sculpture and photography, and provides art-consulting services for corporate and secondary markets. The gallery brings an international array of established contemporary artists works to the San Francisco art market. The gallery is co-owned by Holly Baxter and renowned San Francisco architect Piero Patri.

Calendar Editors, Please Note:

Group Exhibition "Blue" at Baxter Change Patri Fine Art

* What: New Group Exhibition

* Who: Eric Blum, Elizabeth Hack, Robert Larson, Katherine Leighnor, Ed Martin,

Jeremy Morgan, Erin Parish, Miguel Osuna, Alex Weinstein, Nina Zurier and others.

* When: October 6 -- December 5, 2005

* Reception for the Artists: October 6, 2005 5:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

* Where: Baxter Change Patri Fine Art Gallery, 222 Mason Street, off the main lobby of the Hotel Nikko

RSVP (415) 397-2000 or at www.baxterchangpatri.com

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