Exhibitions

Tom Knechtel
Synchronicity & Juxtaposition
Yantra Collection & Yantra influenced drawings
January 23 – February 25, 2009
Artist talk: 5:00 pm Friday January 23, in the gallery.
Followed by the Opening Reception 6-8:00 pm.

Los Angeles artist Tom Knechtel’s works on paper inspired by his collection of yantras along with selections of this Indian folk art from his personal collection. Knechtel began collecting Indian art right out of college when he became fascinated with it as an alternative to Western narrative.

Yantras are graphs or diagrams in Indian folk art that are used as aids in meditation. Yantras can range from very simple to extremely elaborate, from completely abstract to swarming with imagery. In Indian art “the straitjacket of Western perspective is thrown way and in its place is a rich, complex, re-imaging of how space, landscape, and architecture can be represented.” Colors in these works are used more as depictions of emotional states rather than depictions of reality.

In his own artwork Knechtel does not mimic Indian art but adds the influences from Indian sensibilities of perspective, line, color and scale, to his own contemporary view. “It (Indian art) has changed the way I look at my paintings, less as a scene and more as a diagrammatic structure.”

This exhibit is a unique opportunity to see the line of influence that runs from a source, through the artist and is revealed in the works of art.

Tom Knechtel’s works courtesy of Marc Selwyn Fine Art
The Indian folk art is from Tom Knechtel’s private collection

Wicked-step Gallery

Student work from the Fall 08 semester.

Fine Arts Galleries Mission Statement

The Cuesta College Fine Arts Department exhibition program strives to present professional artwork of local, national and international prominence. In our main gallery a regular changing selection of outstanding visual arts and design exhibitions are displayed annually. Such exhibitions shall be either historical or contemporary in content, and reflect the educational goals of the Fine Arts Department.

The Wicked-step gallery presents work by currently enrolled Cuesta students'.

Exhibition Screenings

Exhibition screenings take place twice a year and are planned by the Art GalleryDirector. Artists wishing to be considered for inclusion in future group or solo exhibitions should send a current vitae, artist statement, and visual documentation appropriate for the media, 35mm slides mounted in plastic or cardboard (no glass slides), CD-ROM, DVD, or VHS, (URLs are not acceptable) with a SASE for return of material, to the attention of Tim Anderson, Art Gallery Director by March 15th or November 15th of each year.

Deadlines

The deadlines for submissions are March 15th and November 15th of each year. Proposals from professionals, student artists, and others will be accepted throughout the year and reviewed after each deadline. Artists are notified within 2 months following the March and November deadlines.

Selection Policy

The Art Gallery and the department of Fine Arts do not exercise censorship in the selection of exhibitions. Artworks that have not been subject to Federal or State prohibition are not excluded from the gallery on moral, political, racial, religious, sexist language or other sensitive grounds alone. Nor should artworks be included on these grounds alone, whatever pressure is brought to bear by groups or individual.