San Francisco artist Amy Trachtenberg opens an exhibition, Vacilando, at Brian Gross Fine Art at One Post Street on September 14, 2009. On view will be four new works: two paintings on canvas and two sculptures in wood. These works create a dialogue between natural elements and formal abstraction, with each one serving as a window into the artistic process. The exhibition will continue through November 20.

Both noun and verb, vacilando is a Spanish term for the wanderer and the act of wandering when the experience of traveling is more important than the destination. Such journeys—through nature and the artistic process—are the inspiration for Trachtenberg’s new work. For the wall sculpture, Sleeping Beauty Cimarrón, salvaged timbers of old-growth redwood were methodically milled and polished, then assembled in rhythmic undulations. Though disparate in medium, the vertical bars in the painting Small Stars in the Shape of Proverbs echo the formalism of Sleeping Beauty, and its textured layers resonate with the sculpture’s natural forms.

Amy Trachtenberg has exhibited her work internationally and has long been involved in the arts community in the Bay Area. She is known for her interdisciplinary collaborations and has been involved in costume and visual design for theatre. She has also received numerous public commissions, the most recent being an architectually integrated artwork titled Ecstatic Voyage for the San Jose BART extension (to be completed in 2016). Other 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. Trachtenberg 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 in Paris. This is her fourth show with Brian Gross Fine Art and her first time showing both sculpture and painting.