Degeneration/Regeneration

This May, Loakal Art Gallery presents the exhibition “Degeneration/Regeneration,” featuring paintings and a site-specific installation by Scott Greenwalt and 3D-printed sculptures and installations by artist duo Smith|Allen. All based in Oakland, the artists investigate natural phenomena as filtered through the contemporary imagination in the digital age.

The idea of metamorphosis is at the core of Scott Greenwalt’s series of large-scale, acrylic paintings. His work simultaneously evokes cells, geological formations, plant roots and galactic phenomena. Built up through intricate layers of line work and nuanced gradients, Greenwalt’s work retains the tightly-controlled quality of illustration within the abstract compositions. Greenwalt depicts worlds that are exploding, fusing, breaking down and evolving, portraying the cyclical nature of life with myriad minute details that seem to have neither a beginning nor an end. For “Degeneration/Regeneration,” he will debut a series of new, large-scale paintings and a site-specific installation featuring living plants.

Smith|Allen is composed of sculptor and installation artist Stephanie Smith and architect and designer Bryan Allen. With their combined skills and mutual passion for experimentation, the duo creates site-specific, 3D-printed installations that respond to their environments. For “Degeneration/Regeneration,” Smith|Allen will debut their latest work, “degen1,” a large-scale installation printed with bio-plastic that will degrade within 50 years. Their work has organic qualities that evoke geological formations, coral reefs and other natural structures, yet the 3D printing process couldn’t be further removed from nature. Each piece starts out as a drawing that becomes a 3D rendering and eventually is printed as a physical object. The artists utilize this juxtaposition of natural and artificial, physical and digital to spark a discussion about the changing dynamics between humans and the natural world.