PRESS RELEASE
The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is proud to
announce a new exhibition of pen and ink images by architect Obie G. Bowman
titled Selected Drawings. The public is invited to attend an opening
reception for the artist on Friday, February 26 from 5-8 pm. Refreshments will be served. The show will continue through April 1.
The 22 drawings exhibited have been selected from three of
Obie’s on-going series of work: Vernacular
Architecture drawings are made from the landscape, celebrating bygone construction,
and often contrasting old and new. Biomorphic Images are based upon his
inherent affinity for with the rhythms of nature and the organic forms that result.
These drawings begin with at least the germ of a compositional idea and develop
from there ̶ often evolving and taking on their own growth
pattern as the work proceeds. With and Without Memory alludes to primeval
DNA, thoughts of coexistence with fellow life forms, and the notion that,
except for the luck of the draw, you and I could easily have been them or it.
Obie G. Bowman, FAIA is an acclaimed architect and talented
artist. Born in Santa Monica, he
currently resides in the Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg. He attended USC, UC Berkeley, and Arizona
State Universities and received a Bachelor of Architecture degree. After apprenticing with Los Angeles architects
from 1967 to 1971, he moved to the Mendocino Coast to start his own studio and
as his practice grew he opened offices at The Sea Ranch (1973) and in the Dry
Creek Valley in Sonoma County (1994).
Obie was inducted into the American Institute of Architects College of
Fellows in 2008.
The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located in the historic
Acheson House at the corner of Garden and Victoria Streets in Santa
Barbara. The gallery entrance on Garden
Street is accessible by ramp. Gallery
hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 am to 2 pm and by appointment. Press Contact: Allison Marcillac. Additional images are available upon
request. Please call 805-965-6307 for
more information.
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| Vernacular Architecture |
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| Biomorphic Images |
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| With and Without Memory |
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Drawing is one
of a number of ways I express my perceived relation to the world around me. I am intrigued by much of the man-made world,
but intrigued even more by most of the natural-made world. Although
sometimes distraught by our disrespect for one another, I am always distraught by
our disrespect for the natural world,
especially in regard to the multitude of
life forms that share the planet, most of which were here first.
It seems that both
my architecture and my drawing exist in a netherworld between man’s rationality
and nature’s randomness. Somewhere between order and chaos and between known and unknown lies the magic zone that eludes all but the most distinguished works.
I usually start
work with the germ of an idea or composition and allow the drawing to evolve
and (hopefully) help discover its own conclusion. I find pen and ink (as well as brush and wash)
to be suitable tools for navigating through the process in search of
that magic zone.
