History I, 2007
History I, 2007
60 × 60 inches




History II, 2007
History II, 2007
60 × 90 inches




History III, 2007
History III, 2007
60 × 60 inches




History IV, 2007
History IV, 2007
60 × 72 inches




History V, 2007
History V, 2007
60 × 60 inches




History VI, 2007
History VI, 2007
24 × 72 inches




Mica Variations, 2007
Mica Variations, 2007
60 × 30 inches




Lightning will guide you, 2007
Lightning will guide you, 2007
60 × 30 inches




 Amy Trachtenberg: Recent Paintings

San Francisco artist Amy Trachtenberg opens an exhibition of paintings at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, September 6, 2007, with a reception from 5:30-7:30 pm. In new work, the artist explores space, light, memory and history. The exhibition will be on view through October 27.

In these paintings, the artist states, "it has become unavoidable to evoke the natural realm in its contemporary anxiety and beauty." Trachtenberg works through an intuitive, process-oriented approach. She grinds powdered pigments, minerals and metallic flake with synthetic polymers and acrylic, utilizing a palette of largely earth tones, to create a ground which remains integral to the final image. Trachtenberg has a physical rapport with the work, pouring mixtures of paint, shifting, tilting and holding the canvas to move and remove layers of color. The history of these actions form echoes of gesture and movement that reflect patterns in nature.

In varying widths, each painting measures sixty inches tall and is installed at the same height creating an intentional line of reference that leads the eyes around the room in a sweeping panorama. Through the thin washes of natural color, the work plays with a shifting sense of space. The largest painting measuring 60 × 90 inches, History II, reveals subtle ghostly traces and shadows. This, as in other works, could be likened to a close-up of blurred photographs or a distantly viewed territory.

Amy Trachtenberg has exhibited her work internationally and nationally and has long been involved in the arts community in the Bay Area. She is known for her collaborative projects with poets, musicians, choreographers and architects and has been involved in theater design sets and costumes as well as architectural installations. Permanent installations include Groundwork for a San Jose branch library, The Atrium Project at Children's Hospital in Oakland and Illuminance at Pixar Studios in Emeryville. She received a BA in French and Liberal Studies from the California State University Sonoma and a Diplôme d'Art Plastique from L'ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. Trachtenberg lives and works in San Francisco, California, and this will be her third solo exhibition with Brian Gross Fine Art.