Artwaves: DeSoto, Castillo, & Lysander at Black Faun Gallery

“Remote Wilderness” curator and Black Faun Gallery owner, Kevin Bourque described the gallery’s July exhibition as, “a selection of young, established artists who express a tension of dealing with the underlying dominant ethos of a culture that undermines ethics with regards to ecological, race and gender issues.” Greg Lysander’s first artistic inspiration came from his grandmother, who was a potter. Later he discovered the ceramic sculptures of Peter Voulkos while studying art at HSU. Today, Greg generates his own inspiration for his wheel thrown and hand built sculptures that defy the fragile gravity of clay at as much as four feet tall. Greg explains the origin story of his sculptures, “I think of my sculptures as a utility class of creatures who were created by another race of beings. Now they have become obsolete to their creators and are trying to find their new purpose with optimism and acceptance. I project some of my life experiences onto these little guys in seeking my own purpose. There’s a lot of femininity in some of them and others are more masculine. There’s a sensuality but it’s not overt. I feel like the color palette is intentional. I love the bright colors and I like the dark colors and undertones of the stain and the black. It’s like this melancholy Easter is my vibe, which is kind of like my life. There’s a lot of optimism and then there’s loneliness and weird stuff too. I feel the hopefulness is bigger than the darkness.” Johnathon DeSoto will be showing his signature geometrically based art panels made from reclaimed wood. Also on exhibition are his series of collages, which include photos from recent protests and marches, entitled “American Portrait.” Johnathon derives creative sparks from these local actions and circumstances that call for them. “These struggles are real, intense and at times overwhelming,” says Desoto. “What renews my passion, my determination and gives me hope, is seeing people living out the ‘beloved community.’" This community can be seen in Johnathon’s collage work, “It is people showing up for the immigrant march, CR students self organizing to reinstate Renee Saucedo, a community that demands justice for the murder of HSU student, Josiah Lawson. It’s people doing the hard work at creating new organizations, reforming and contributing to existing organizations, people taking their opportunities to speak to their representatives, run for office, writing, taking on the structures that confine our imaginations. It’s people becoming a community of angelic troublemakers. We are in the process of creating the American portrait.” Andrea Castillo’s primary mediums are painting, installation and video. She attended Humboldt State University and received her MFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design. Ideas for Andrea's work at the Black Faun Gallery came from particular landscapes that she has experienced and or learned about via media reports. Andrea describes how these landscapes are translated, “I am thinking of traditional landscape paintings, the idea of the sublime, and the concept of deep ecology. The process of painting allows me to sift through ideas of overwhelming concerns facing our current ecology. My marks, legible and dabbling with abstraction, I consider the collision of the human-built world and the ‘natural’ world. I wonder the conundrums of places we inhabit where car fresheners are in the artificial scent and shape of a pine tree, and an ancient tar seep carved into a lake with human hands, and now filled with plaster mastodons.” The Black Faun Gallery is located at the corner of 2nd and G Streets in Old Town Eureka. The gallery is open to the public Thursday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and by appointment. More information about Black Faun exhibitions and artists is available at http://blackfaunart.com/ or by contacting the gallery at contact@blackfaunart.com or (707) 798-6207.