Extra Ordinary Nature
Mixed media and mixed cultures come together in Werner Glinka’s exhibition “Extra Ordinary Nature” which opens May 2in the Caldwell Gallery, 400 County Center in Redwood City. Gallery hours are weekdays only from 9 to 5.
The wall-hung artworks will include pieces from his Flag Series as well as Urban Totems.
Glinka’s unique style of assemblage, combining the influences of the sleek, steel-and-glass modernism of the Bauhaus movement with the simple, functional grace of Japanese landscapes, developed after he moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains high above Woodside.
Acrylic pigments on board provide a foundation for twigs and barbed wire, ash and pearls, oddments and detritus from Glinka’s environment that imply the intersection of mankind and nature and carry substantial emotional weight.
Born, raised, and educated in Gelsenkirchen-Horst, Germany, an industrial town of coalmines and steel plants, Glinka moved to California in 1981 as an engineering and marketing executive. His working studio in Belmont’s 1870 Art Center will be open to visitors during the May 3-4 Silicon Valley Open Studios weekend. Glinka explains that the triggers for his work are as diverse as the work itself, and range from something as ordinary and invisible as an asphalt-filled crack in the street, to the in-your-face complexity and near-chaos of New York City...
Often Glinka refuses to title these works, lest he add his own layer of interpretation where none is required. “Once it’s on the wall,” he maintains, “my work is done.” In doing so, he honors the vantage point from which each individual sees his work, while simultaneously creating space for each reaction.
Glinka’s work has been shown throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Peninsula Museum of Art, the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, the AVArtfest at the Triton Museum, d.p. Fong Gallery, Crockett Contemporary Art, 1870 Art Center, the Olive Hyde Gallery, the Fingerhut Gallery in Sausalito, and 1212 Gallery in Burlingame.
CONTACT PERSON: Ruth Waters, 650-594-1577
