Visual Amalgam Art Show offers the public a rare opportunity to see personal artwork created by visual effects professionals behind some of the biggest motion pictures at one of the premier art venues in the Los Angeles area.
Patrick Finley, a successful painter and visual effects artist for motion pictures, conceived the first Visual Amalgam Show back in 2006. “I’d been showing my paintings in galleries for a while and I wanted to provide all these amazingly talented film artisans I was working with in visual effects an opportunity to show their art to the public in a gallery setting,” says Finley.
“The film making process is fundamentally collaborative,” remarked Evan Jacobs, a successful visual effects supervisor and one of the show’s organizers. “I picked up still photography as a way to explore my own creative instincts with more freedom. Patrick had this great idea to help all us closet artists step out of the shadows a little.”
The show’s concept took off, with over fifteen artists participating in the first show. “The show was a big hit,” Patrick recalls. “We were overwhelmed with the response to our little show.” Over five hundred people attended the show in downtown Los Angeles.
“When we started talking about putting together another show,” Jacobs says, “we really wanted to raise the bar on the venue both in size as well as stature in the art community.” The 2008 Visual Amalgam Show will be held at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. “We thought Bergamot Station is the perfect place to have the show,” Jacobs remarks. “The James Gray Gallery has an amazing space and they were excited about the doing the show with us.”
The James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station is hosting the one-night-only event on Sunday October 5th, 2008 from 5pm to 9pm. Admission is free.
Finley and Jacobs have put together an impressive list of artists for this year’s show. Academy Award™ nominated production designer Albert Brenner (“Georgia Rule”, “Pretty Woman”) will be showing several sculptures and paintings while Academy Award™ winning Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Mack (“Speed Racer”, “Fight Club”) will be showing his abstract dimensional math paintings.
Other featured artists include John Swallow (Hellboy II: The Golden Army), Angie Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth), Ash Beck (Commercials), Ben Rittenhouse, Dainel Abramovitch (The Brave One), Dan Curry (Star Trek), Danny Diman (Polar Express), Shannon Blake Gans, Darren Lurie (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Diana Walczak (Fantastic Four), Eric Hanson (Cast Away), Eric Robertson (The Da Vinci Code), Evan Jacobs (Resident Evil: Extinction), Joe Strasser, Loic Zimmerman (Hancock), Owen Demers (The Matrix Revolutions), Pam Hogarth (Gnomon), Patrick Finley (I Am Legend), Richard Taylor (Tron), Snow Mack (X-Men 2), Vincent Serrittela (Hancock).
Patrick Finley works as a Senior Technical Director for leading visual effects company Sony Pictures Imageworks in Culver City, contributing to such films as “Speed Racer”, “I am Legend”, “Surf’s Up”, and “Superman Returns”. He holds a degree in Architecture and Fine Art and has been a professor at several colleges including New York University. Patrick pursues oil painting as his personal artistic outlet. For years he has been active in the Los Angeles art community and his work has been featured at many galleries around the city.
Evan Jacobs always had a great interest in the visual arts, which is what drove him to pursue a career in the film industry. Now, an experienced film industry veteran, Evan Jacobs is regarded as a dynamic and versatile member of the visual effects industry. He has proven himself to be adept at designing bold “in your face” visuals in effects-driven films such as Resident Evil: Extinction, Silent Hill and Ben 10: Race Against Time, which was nominated for two VES Awards in 2007. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, he has contributed “invisible effects” to projects such as Walk Hard – The Dewey Cox Story, Hollywoodland and 16 Blocks.
Bergamot Station is Southern California’s largest art gallery complex and cultural center, located on eight acres in the heart of Santa Monica featuring contemporary art galleries, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, architecture and design firms, a cafe, and a frame shop.
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