“New Deco” - Paintings by AnnaMir, Ivy Jacobsen and Paula Evers

San Francisco, CA – June 7, 2006- announcement - Newmark Gallery presents “New Deco”, featuring works by AnnaMir, Ivy Jacobsen and Paula Evers opening July 5, 2006 through August 5, 2006. There will be a public reception Thursday, July 6th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Like the Art Deco explosion of the 1920s and 30s, contemporary artists are blurring the lines between fine art and decorative art. These artists are subverting the affectation that considers decoration as frivolous in relation to fine art.

“New Deco” features a cross section of serious artists from different generations and cultures but all pursuing the difficult work of making meaningful art using highly refined techniques and incorporating materials such as bronzing powder, gold and other mineral pigments to add luster and reflect light to seductive and gorgeous effect. Eschewing the modern prop of shock value imagery or style, which immediately conveys an aura of profundity, these artists masterfully create artistic meaning with a full and joyous paean to the beauty of the chosen image. Art that is dazzling to the eye always labors under the danger of being facile or banal. The legitimacy of works like these, which triumphantly avoids these traps, makes these paintings extraordinary.

AnnaMir is a classically trained St. Petersburg painter who, coming from the Stroganov School, is steeped in both Russian neo-romanticism and socialist realism. Her paintings transcend classicism by applying a clear and overriding contemporary aesthetic. Dutch artist Paula Evers brings her Barbazon school sensibilities to create exquisite, open figurative and abstract works. Local painter Ivy Jacobsen, trained in Paris and San Francisco, expresses the younger San Francisco perspective, traveling regularly to lush, tropical environments for inspiration for her austere, yet stunningly rendered, observations of the natural world. Taken together these artists bring a contemporary sensibility to one of the oldest functions of art.

Newmark Gallery San Francisco is located at 251 Post Street, Suite 412 in the Union Square area of San Francisco. We are committed to representing the highest quality contemporary art. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am - 6 pm and by appointment. Please view our website at www.newmarkgallery.com for more information and upcoming events. To contact Mark Wladika, the gallery director, please email art@newmarkgallery.com or call 415.392.3692

newmark gallery san francisco

251 post street suite 412 san francisco ca 94108

AnnaMir “La Catedral”, Acrylic on Canvas, 58’’x36’’

Ivy Jacobsen, Untitled, Oil and Gold on Canvas, 30’’x30’’

Paula Evers, “Composition in Blue”, Acrylic on Canvas, 47’’x47’’