Art Gallery presents "The Figure 3"

January 9, 2006

Irvine Valley College will present an exhibition of contemporary figure painting by three Los Angeles artists, figurative

painters working within and in opposition too tradition, Feb. 3 through Mar. 17. The artist’s works represent a new

resurgence in figurative and representational art, in a strong move away from the domination of postmodern abstraction of

recent decades.

Julie Kirk, an IVC instructor and street painter, reflects the historical tradition of classical figure painting, while exploring

contemporary feminist, religious, and personal themes. In her paintings of women and children, Kirk confronts the opposing

tensions of innocence and violence, beauty and ugliness, and sacred and secular, to examine the current human condition.

Freelance artist and designer Joe Gerges has mastered the formal elements of centuries-old Renaissance artists in his

works of contemporary socio-political commentary. Gerges’ paintings dramatize human emotion on the melancholic side,

ranging from malaise to outrage.

Street painter and “South Park” TV series illustrator Melanie Stimmell was influenced by the mid-nineteenth century primitive

naturalism of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Superficially, Stimmell’s works appear to be whimsical portraits of the by-

gone era of the “Good Housewife.” Beneath the surface, however, is a serious social-feminist commentary on the role of

women in today’s society.

For more information, contact Thomas Folland, Gallery Director, at tfolland@ivc.edu.