June 2007                                                                          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fragments : Various Works on Paper
June 2- July 14, 2007
Artist Reception: Sat. June 2, 6-8PM

The Koplin Del Rio Gallery is pleased to announce its fifth exhibition of work by Los Angeles based artist Wes Christensen. The show entitled, “Fragments” features intimate multilayered pieces executed with watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on paper. In this recent body of work, the artist’s usual implied narratives have begun to give way to the aphorism, and the story has been replaced by the kind of emblem suggested by Heraclitus’ Fragment 10: “Things Keep their Secrets.”

“A fragment can suggest a lost whole,” the artist says, “but it has also become a manner of expression, a Postmodern style. In a time when completion eludes us, the world seems revealed in quick glances, and keys to understanding are often found in hints, gestures, and metaphors which neither reveal nor conceal.” Ambiguous, and sometimes opaque, aphorisms invite a psychological approach to interpretation — an approach that favors analogy over explanation, provoking parallel poetic images that invite insight through subjective appeals to each viewer’s imaginative experience.

The almost miniaturist scale of the work leads to a rather intimate viewing experience with works that are full of classical references and literary allusions. “Kledon,” for example, refers to a Greek omen found in unintended speech, while “Julio & Dürer’s Polyhedron” juxtaposes the portrait with a recreation of the odd object found in the mysterious engraving, "Melencolia I."

Christensen notes that these secretive fragments are found beside another familiar metaphor from the Greek philosopher. That is the river of time which renews each moment with a freshness that changes the appearance of these things in the eyes of each beholder, and in that transformation there is a path to redemption. Christensen suggests that Bertolt Brecht was standing on the banks of Heraclitus’ river when he wrote his 1944 poem, Alles wandelt sich:

Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.

Wes Christensen currently teaches at Laguna College of Art and Design and has exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States, including the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in Ann Arbor, and Riverside Art Museum. He was awarded an NEA Visual Arts Fellowship and has also published articles in art, literary and archaeological journals.