The paintings of artist Jim Gaylord push the boundaries of identified space and the ambiguity of object relation. Referencing elements of traditional surrealism, Gaylord updates his method of creation by distilling information from film stills. Using several layers of transparent film, the artist is able to render specific elements in the found image that reduces the still down to spatial planes, shadows and general landscape and architectural structures. The process works as a visual filter, allowing Gaylord the opportunity to shift the story of the film, still offering even greater narrative possibilities and meaning. Gaylord received his degree in film from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his MFA from the University of California at Berkeley. He has received both a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant and the Eisner Award in Art Practice from UC Berkeley. Recent solo and two person exhibitions include “I Thought You Were Waving at Me” with the Gregory Lind Gallery in San Francisco and “Jim Gaylord & Eric Hongisto” at the PS 122 Gallery in New York.

The enigmatic photographs of William Hundley spring to life with dynamic movement and weightlessness. These photos that appear to be digitally manipulated are actually carefully staged by the photographer using simple fabric covers and models. Hundley wraps each figure in fabric and then instructs the model to leap into the air, which causes the mass to appear floating, effortlessly. The images call into question issues of authenticity and the suspension of belief. Hundley is a graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos and has exhibited in numerous Texas-based galleries including the Else Madsen Gallery in Austin. Hundley has also participated in notable group shows such as “Outside In” with Okay Mountain in Austin and “Malleability, Transparency, Solubility — Charting New Territory with Digital Media” at the Landmark Galleries at the Texas Tech School of Art in Lubbock, TX.

Currently, Hundley is exhibiting in the Texas Biennial held at the Bolm Studios in Austin for which he has received the Juror’s Choice Award.

Creating work in the category of Chinese contemporary art termed “Political Pop,” artist Wang Guangyi’s paintings at once reference propaganda images from the Cultural Revolution and imagery of contemporary popular culture. The vast amount of social images brought forth through the Maoist Regime is synthesized through these works to offer a critique of the Cultural Revolution historically and ideologically. This critique is furthered by the artist’s use of socially appropriated imagery of the Chinese people, signifying the middle-class within China’s expansive population, economy and governmental policy. Guangyi was born in Harbin, China, and currently lives and works in Beijing. Recent solo exhibitions include works with the Galerie ARARIO in Seoul, Korea, and Galerie Urs Meile in Lucerne, Switzerland. The artist has also exhibited with Galerie Enrico Navarra in Paris and with Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong, China. Guangyi was featured in an exhibition and article with the ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai, China.

Using a variety of materials, the eclectic sculptures of artist Elliott Hundley bring painterly qualities into three dimensions. The artist employs many different elements into his collaged sculptures, including magazines, found objects and family photos, along with pieces of fabric and thread all held together with pins and twist ties. His seemingly formal considerations dissipate as the viewer becomes closer to the work, revealing layers of information united by the artist’s laborious creative process. The density of each sculpture leads to the constant discovery of new images that offer endless possibilities of narrative and meaning. Last year, Hundley exhibited with the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and was also included in “LAXed: Paintings from the Other Side” at the Peres Projects in Berlin. Additional group exhibitions include, “Desired Constellations” with the Daniel Reich Gallery and “Curvaceous” at the Andrea Rosen Gallery, both in New York City.

Mark Fairnington paints images that attempt to classify the natural world. His work focuses primarily on the human need to categorize and group everything in our surroundings, addressing both the need to record as well as the need to collect. Many of his images depict animals, especially birds and insects, prepared for documentation and dissection. The paintings reference still-life images of the 16th and 17th centuries, both through narrative and historical evaluations. These expanded interpretations of the still-life are further defined by Fairnington’s ability to achieve true-to-life renderings of animals with traditional painting techniques, while also commenting on the methods of classification. Fairnington graduated from Goldsmiths College of Art and exhibits his work with Fred-London. Other recent exhibitions include works with Galerie Peter Zimmermann in Frankfurt (2005), the Volta Show (2003) and Ace Gallery in Los Angeles (2000). The artist also has an exhibition planned with the Robert Miller Gallery in New York (2007).

Investigating the nature of truth as told through the photographic lens, artist Duncan Ganley documents experience though a fictional language. The artist is currently exhibiting “midnight, mid-Atlantic,” a body of work that was produced during an artist in residence in Iceland, on view now at the Inman Gallery in Houston. Ganley has assumed the role of a researcher, developing a documentary, though completely fictional, about a movie director, his actors and his unfinished movie. Through these fictional narratives, Ganley places the viewer in a position to question the truth of the documentary and thus the truth of all lens-based media. About these ideas, Ganley says: “…the ability of technology to intervene in the veracity of the image, as well as the integrity of the location being photographed, reveal the shifting terms on which our understanding of historical significance (both personal and cultural) through the photographic image is based. Are the histories we learn just as ‘authentic’ as the fiction we see?” Ganley was born in the UK and received his MFA from Edinburgh College of Art. The artist has exhibited “Endless Filmset 2″ with the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, and “Opening Shot/End Titles” with Cornerhouse in Manchester, England. Ganley is currently a professor of photography at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas.

Recent works by premiere Bay Area artist Deborah Oropallo will be on view this season at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from March 17-Sept. 16. “Guise” is a new series of large-scale digital prints that continue the artist’s interest in computer-manipulated imagery. These hybrid portraits appropriate seductive images of women in a variety of contemporary costumes from Internet sources, coupled with 17th-and 18th-century portrait paintings of men in power and of nobility. Oropallo draws striking parallels between the two unlikely sources by focusing on seduction and power through gesture and pose. The artist layers each image, causing them to be revealed simultaneously, drawing connections through stance, gesture and attire. This re-contextualization brings forth issues of gender, fantasy, power and sexuality. Recent museum exhibitions for Oropallo include works with the Greenville Museum of Art in North Carolina, the San Jose Museum of Art in California and the Boise Art Museum in Idaho. Oropallo is also represented by the Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco, Scott White Contemporary in San Diego and the Gail Severn Gallery in Sun Valley, Idaho. Select Deborah Oropallo to view a previous DailyServing entry.