Collection: Travel In Place - Pathways And Portals, Selected By Lena Gustafson (online exhibition)

About the exhibition

This exhibition explores the diverse approaches to travel and transition by artists working at NIAD. While we currently aren't able to physically travel very far during this time of Sheltering In Place due to COVID-19, I wanted to select works that to me suggest a different form of travel, one that occurs inward. Some of these works are illustrative and communicate a real imagined place such as the pathway to heaven lined with angels shown in Michael Nuñez's piece. Other works use color and pattern that act as a kind of portal to a different realm as seen in works by Evelyn Davis. Carlos Fernandez's "Butterfly" presents us with the very symbol of transition and transformation. No matter the mode of communication, each work suggests a sort of duality between where we are and where we can go. At a time when the future is very uncertain, the practice of imagining new futures is crucial. My hope is that these pieces will help inspire transformation that begins with ourselves wherever we are at.

About the selector

Lena Gustafson (b. San Francisco 1989) is a painter and multi-disciplinary artist based in Oakland, CA. After graduating from the Art Institute of Boston with a BA in Illustration and Art Therapy in 2011, she co-founded Night Diver Press with her partner Peter Calderwood. Together they use silkscreen and other alternative printing techniques to create and publish multiples in the form of prints, books, zines, and monotypes. They have exhibited work at Art Book Fairs in Mexico, Vancouver, Miami, New York, LA, and the Bay Area.

Gustafson's recent paintings are informed by her background in preparing images for screen-prints. Her paintings depict scenes of transformation often with figures or plants merging with their environment. Primary themes in Gustafson's work include body memory, repression, sequential evolution, and reciprocity. Gustafson presented her 3rd solo show "Pushing Up Daisies" at Part2 Gallery in Oakland 2019. Over the last 3 years she has exhibited her work at a number of galleries and institutions including New Image Art LA, The Hole NYC, The Fog Fair SF, China Heights Sydney, SFMOMA, and The Headlands Spring Auction in SF.

The entire exhibition