Swarm Gallery
560 2nd St
510.839.2787
This event has passed.
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Courtesy Swarm Gallery
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Opens Saturday June 4, 2011 (6–8pm)
May 28, 2011 – July 3, 2011
Daily
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“Sarah A Smith's ink and gold leaf drawings are so delicate that it may be an experiential shock to realize that her art is a statement about the danger of empire. Using imitation gold leaf, Smith corrodes her material to convey a sense of the falsity behind greed-driven commerce. Simultaneously, viewers get treated to the pleasure of Smith's brushwork renderings of trees, animals, and the natural world. Strange juxtaposition, indeed — behold, celebrate, and weep.”
Bonnie Chan, Flavorpill
Real gold adorns buildings like City Hall and places of concentrated power — statehouses, cathedrals, palaces and residences of the wealthy. In her drawings, Sarah uses imitation gold leaf that was mined and manufactured in China. She doesn't treat it like a precious metal. Instead, she literally corrodes, tarnishes and destroys it with a real chemical process. What is left on the paper is the end result of an acidic reaction — an accelerated oxidation of elements.
