FIELDS OF VISION

Sandra Kelch and Laurence Elias

April 25 to May 25

Artists’ reception: Saturday, April 27, 1-4pm

Artists’ Talk: Saturday, May 4th at 2pm

First Friday: May 3, 5-8pm

Gearbox Gallery presents Fields of Vision, featuring the work of Sandra Kelch (Gearbox Juried Show Winner, 2023) and guest artist Laurence Elias. In this exhibition of mixed media works, Kelch and Elias are in dialogue through their explorations of space, perception and geometric abstraction.

Sandra Kelch creates artworks that are abstractions of urban space. Drawing from both built and imaginary environments, Kelch has developed a visual language of geometric forms, grids and patterns derived from industrial form. Her compositions become metaphors for the city – with their complex layering of textures and voids.

Laurence Elias’ work, too, is formed from geometric jumping-off points. In this current series, Elias creates work characterized by unusual color palettes and quirky optical distortions of intricate patterns. Elias explores the active nature of perception by which our reality is constructed. In these works lines, forms, and shapes present vivid cues of spatiality that are in tension with their true planar nature.

On exhibition from April 25 to May 25 at Gearbox Gallery in West Oakland, Fields of Vision is Kelch and Elias’s first feature show at Gearbox.

About Sandra Kelch

Sandra Kelch is an Oakland-based artist and academic. Born in New York, she received her BFA from The Cooper Union, her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a Ph.D. in practice-led research in the Arts from the Australian National University. She currently teaches at the University of San Francisco’s Art + Architecture department, and has taught at the California College of the Arts, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University and the Kala Art Institute. Her artwork has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums both nationally and internationally.

About Laurence Elias

Laurence Elias works in various media, including photography, digital, painting, and weaving. His work is influenced by his former career as a physician and scientist. He received his MFA from the California College of the Arts in 2018 and has exhibited his work regionally and nationally.