Naked Light

Oakland’s Cianna Valley and Katherine Rutter partner up with San Francisco’s Aubrey Learner to create “Naked Light”. All three artists interpret nature in their work with a surrealistic approach. Often, the female figure is represented in their works creating narrative and lending a sensual expression. Aubrey’s use of biological subject matter in her art creates a unique sense of balance and abstraction. Cianna’s versatile use of mixed mediums along with prints, sculpture help her construct a sense of vulnerable fleeting memories that can’t be replicated in a photograph. Katherine’s use of figurative hybrid compositions help fuel a narrative that finds humanity between rawness of human emotion and the all encompassing power that is nature.

The opening reception of “Naked Light” is Saturday, September 10th at 7pm at 1525 Webster St. in Downtown Oakland at Athen B. Gallery. We’re a conveniently located between 12th and 19th St Bart Stations. All of the artists will be in attendance at the opening reception.

AUBREY LEARNER | I am inspired by scientific illustration and the scientist/artist’s desire to observe and dissect and thereby control the natural world. Using this method and biological subjects as symbols, my work explores relationships between lovers and families from the clinical dorsal view. These experiences can be both beautiful and painful simultaneously, and my goal is to capture the vibration in between. I appreciate the process of stretching watercolor paper and the tension this provides to the surface. As ground to my subjects, I ask the paper to become a sort of skin that forms and deforms the figure as it is both tortured and decorated by staples, insects, and surgical steel. What would normally be cut away- the taped edges with color studies and title ideas- I leave as field notes.

Aubrey Learner is a visual artist living and working in San Francisco. She holds a BS in Biology from the University of Akron and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been shown in the Bay Area as well as Los Angeles and New York.

CIANNA VALLEY | My work examines past experiences and the effect of time upon their accuracy. Unlike photos which capture images at the exact moment that they occur, prints allow fact to blend with fabrication. Childhood memories can be viewed through a lens of adult understanding while people and places of the past and present overlap. Through print, sculpture and mixed media installation themes of myth, magic and celebration mingle with those of value, loss and regret to create a series of composite realities that aim to capture the feeling of not being able return to a space physically or mentally.

Cianna Valley was born and raised on Maui. She earned her BFA in printmaking from California College of the Arts and currently lives/works in Oakland, California. Her work has been shown across the US and resides in various private and public collections including the Library of Congress. 

KATHERINE RUTTER | I create mixed-media drawings that explore an existence that is full of both beauty and struggle. These drawings begin by ‘painting’ with hair-like algae, an intuitive process that allows me to connect with my subconscious, like one might find images in clouds. Muddy shapes gradually evolve into ambiguous narratives of plants, animals & female forms. Gentle lines and colors give an initial feeling of warmth and familiarity, often bringing to mind illustrations from old children’s books. The ambiguity challenges our immediate perceptions– are these beasts & plants consuming/ strangling or embracing/nurturing? A reminder that we rarely know the complication of one’s story; a request for deeper understanding. Through the ambivalence of these images, my work addresses our emotional and physical beings, as well as the coexistence of the grotesque, the beautiful & the fantastical.

Katherine Rutter was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the fourth of six children. Raised on a small farm in the country, her early experiences instilled an intimate with relationship with nature. She received her BFA in 2007 from the University of Central Arkansas, where she studied photography and drawing. After living in Oakland for two years, she is now setting off to the Southeast part of the States to look for a new home with a porch and forest.