Ariel DeAndrea. Ebb and Flow

About

An up-and-coming West Coast artist, DeAndrea’s mixed media works feature origami cranes in natural environments as her primary subject. Influenced by Japanese mythology, her realist paintings and installations transform the inanimate into the living. Verging on the surreal, DeAndrea’s compositions teem with life. Colorful, winding brushwork emulates the sensation of bubbling water, buoying solitary paper cranes which drift across the water’s surface. Always dynamic, DeAndrea’s cranes ably navigate a variety of environments, facing tumultuous waves and placid waters alike. Ever-fragile, the cranes are highly decorated for their journey with saturated organic patterns. Their individualization is defined not only by their outward appearance, but also by their movements. Captivated, and at times, consumed by the water’s currents, each crane seemingly personifies different states of being.

For DeAndrea, the motif of the crane is a deeply personal symbol, which has its origins in Japanese lore. Legend has it that a wish will be granted to anyone who folds and hangs 1,000 origami cranes (a Senbazuru); culturally, these wishes are often used to ask for health. DeAndrea created her first Senbazuru as a meditative practice to cope with the illness of a parent. This became her first installation—“Hope”—and eventually became the inspiration her paintings.

Ebb and Flow features a variety of paintings by DeAndrea that she developed primarily in Californian landscapes. Her recent body of work has vastly expanded in terms of size, as DeAndrea successfully allowed the crane’s trajectory to dictate the scope and scale of her latest compositions. Ebb and Flow will also present her installation entitled “Ascension”.