Cynthia Innis
Cynthia Innis
Female

West Oakland

Member Since: 3/14/2007
Last Seen: 3/12/2008

http://innis.uber.com
Bio
please also visit:  http://www.CynthiaOnaInnis.com


Solo Exhibitions

2008   "Rally"                    Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2007   "Expelled"    Installation Project    PS122 Classroom Project Space, New York,  NY.                                           Curated by Meg Shiffler, May 5-26    http://www.ps122gallery.org/

          "Tipping Point: Cynthia Ona Innis"          Bentley Projects Gallery, Phoenix, AZ.


2006    New Paintings                   Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

2005    Cynthia Ona Innis           Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2003    PS122 Gallery                   PS122 Gallery, New York, NY.
          New Work                            Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2001    New Work                        Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1999    New Work                         Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
          Night Light                    The Make-Out Room, San Francisco, CA.


Select Group Exhibitions


2007    "Grounded?"       Southern Exposure Gallery, SF, CA.                                
           “Cultivating Creativity”        Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF, CA.
          “UC Berkeley  Faculty Show”        Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, CA.
            "Current: New Abstraction"      Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO.
            "Work a Day"        Blankspace Gallery, Oakland, CA.

2006    â€œConversation 3: Globus and Innis” SF Arts Commission Gallery, SF, CA.
          “Summer Show”             Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ.
          “Close Calls: 2006”            Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA.
          “As Good As Your Next Gig”        Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

2005    â€œMayhem”                Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
          “James D. Phelan Award Exhibition”    Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA.
           “J. Higgins, C. Innis and J. Brunson”    SFMOMA Artists Gallery, SF, CA.

2004    â€œTime & Place, Part 1, Fellowship Show”    Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA.
          “Hidden Treasures”            Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA.

2003    â€œIntersection: Faculty Exhibition”     Boise State University Art Gallery, Boise, ID.
          “Branch Out”                Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

2002    â€œVisual Sound of Birds”            Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, ID.
          “Across the Generations”        Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Sonoma, CA.
          “Pacific Coast Artists”            OSP Gallery, Boston, MA.

2001    â€œ4th Biennial Exhibition”          A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY.
          “Group Show”                Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1999    â€œFragments of the World”          UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA.
          “New Space, New Work”          Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

1998    â€œSweet Sublime”              Chocolate Factory Gallery, London, UK.
          “Link”                     450 Broadway, New York, NY.

1995    â€œRE: Drawing”                  Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

 

Education


MFA , 1994, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University
BA, 1991, University of California at Berkeley

Grants and Awards


2006    SF Arts Commission Honorarium, California.
2005    James D. Phelan Award in Printmaking, California.
          MacDowell Colony Fellowship and Residency, New Hampshire.
2003    Kala Fellowship Residency, Kala Art Institute, California
1994    Graduate Scholarly Fellowship, MGSA, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
          Teaching Fellowship in Printmaking, MGSA, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
1993    Graduate Scholarly Fellowship, MGSA, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
1991    James D. Phelan Award in Painting, California.                       

Collections Include


Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA.
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA.
Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA.
Capital Group Collection, Los Angeles, CA.
Newark Public Library, Special Collections, Newark, NJ.
Imagery Estate Winery Artists Collection, Glen Ellen, CA.

 

Academic Appointments and Lectures


2007    UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Drawing, Fall Semester.
          UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Drawing, Spring Semester.
2006    UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Fall Semester.
          San Francisco Art Institute, Visiting Artist, Community Programs, Spring Semester
          UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Fall Semester
2005    San Francisco Art Institute, Visiting Artist, Summer Session
          Sonoma State University, Guest lecturer
          Artists Talk, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2004    UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Summer Session
          Cal State Hayward, Guest lecturer, Painting
2003    Boise State University, Visiting Painting Faculty, Spring semester
          UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Summer Session
2002    San Francisco State University, Painting Faculty, Fall semester
          UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Summer Session
2001    Cal State Hayward, Guest Lecturer, Painting
1996    San Francisco Art Institute, Photo Printmaking Faculty, Spring semester
1995    UC Berkeley, Guest Lecturer, Painting
          San Francisco Art Institute, Photo Printmaking Faculty, Fall semester

 

Articles & Catalogs


2007    San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 24-30, 2007, Vol. 41, No 17, Pg 26. "Local Artist Pick:Cynthia   Ona Innis"


2006    ArtReview, August 2006, “Cynthia Ona Innis at the Walter Maciel Gallery” by Cathgerine Taft.

Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2006, “They’re Subtle yet Absorbing: Cynthia ona Innis at Walter Maciel Gallery”, by Holly Myers.


Stretcher. Org,  May 2006, “Conversations 3, Amy Globus and Cynthia Ona Innis” by Veronica Kavass.


Artweek, Volume 37, Issue 3, April 2006. “’Close Calls: 2006’ at Headlands Center for the Arts”, by Mark Van Proyen.


Tarpaulin Sky Online Literary Journal, V4n2 Fall/Winter 06. Cover & images. Interview by Selah Saterstrom. www.tarpaulinsky.com


2005    MacDowell Colony  Newsletter, “Open Studio-Painter Cynthia Ona Innis” by Brendan Tapley. Cover and page 20., Vol 34, No.1, Summer 2005


Kala Art Institute 2005 Catalogue, Berkeley, CA.  Cover and page 2.  2005.


San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, “Big Easy” by Sylvia Rubin. Cover and pages 1, 14-18.


2003    Artweek, Volume 34, Issue 6, July/August 2003, “San Francisco in Napa? Yes!”, by Colin Berry.


Boise Weekly, June 11-17, 2003, “Satin Underground” by Chris Schnoor.


2002    Artweek, Volume 33, Issue 1, “Cynthia Ona Innis at Braunstein/Quay Gallery” (Cover and pg. 19) by Juan Rodriguez.


Pacific States Biennial National Print Exhibition, catalog, University of Hawaii at Hilo.


2001    New American Painting,  Volume 37 December 2001/January 2002 issue. (pg.’s 54-57) Open Studios Press.


The Permanent Art Collection, catalog, Lifelong Medical Care, Berkeley, CA.


1994    New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Arts 1994   New Jersey State Museum, Trenton. Exhibition Catalog.

 

 

http://www.cynthiaonainnis.com










 
Art Review / August 2006
http://waltermacielgallery.com/conainnis/lrg/ArtReview.gif
Interview

Q&A: Cynthia Ona Innis

questions posed by Selah Saterstrom, October 2006

SS: What artists—or other events/things/pieces—have informed your process in significant ways?

COI: Day to day experiences as well as my past are the main influences, and I let these events, ideas, and memories inform the work, my process, the materials and the forms they take. The “Freezer” paintings are about frost in nature, things I witnessed while living in the snow, but they were made at a later time when I was also thinking about a coldness in people. So the work became about the point of freezing and melting, its effect on forms and what occurs just under the ice.

SS: When I first encountered your work, I was working on a book concerned with the relationship between the visceral and the ethereal. Looking at your paintings, I felt that the complexities between these two conditions had been given a kind of visibility that was very particular. How do you, through your work, feel the relationship between the visceral and the ethereal?

COI: There’s visceral and ethereal there, in a visual language as well as in the ideas and processes. I try to tap my history and experiences in my work, constantly mining my past and current situation for an understanding and dialog—the result is often a very layered moment full of contrasting ideas and handling of materials. With the combination of paint, ink, paper, and fabric, I explore the healthy, sick, sublime, wet/dry, sexual, growth, rot, stiff/limp/squishy, thriving and failure that are the fragile properties of the body and nature.

SS: What are you up to at the moment in your studio?

COI: I’m continuing working with this theme of the life processes in plant and animal forms. There are works on paper, an ongoing installation project, about a dozen mixed media paintings and oil paintings, and a few unruly wall pieces in the works for a few upcoming solo and group shows. It’s a productive time for me, and I’m excited about the development of the work and with the direction I’m going.

www.tarpaulinsky.com/Fall06/Innis/Innis-interview.html
Featured Projects

"Trigger" Mixed media on satin

Paintings
"Starts" Mixed media on satin, 28" x 32"
"Sever" Mixed media on satin 14" x 17", 2007
"Porter" Mixed media on wood panel 12" x 16"
"Blue Velvet" Mixed media on wood panel, 32" x 32"
"Fitted" Mixed media on satin, 14" x 17" 2007
"One Two" Mixed media on satin 18" x 22"
Subscribe to My Portfolio
Stretcher.Org Review 2006

Conversations 3
Amy Globus and Cynthia Ona Innis
by Veronica Kavass

Granted, my residence in San Francisco hasn't even hit the one-year mark, but Conversations 3 is the most eloquent gallery show I've seen here. Feminine, terrifying, organic, science fiction-y, delicate, an interlacing of two artists in graceful accord with one another—this conversation belongs in another time and place, one that lies on the periphery of a futuristic heaven-meets-hell. There is no clashing in the juxtaposition of Bay Area's Cynthia Ona Innis and New York-based Amy Globus at San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery's third installment of the "Conversations" series. The gliding transition from Innis' exhibit in the front of the gallery to Globus' curtained-off video installation, Electric Sheep, is like rolling out of a bed and into one of the sensual and somewhat disconcerting dreams composed by the delightfully freakish modernist writer, Djuna Barnes.
site-specific installation (2006), Cynthia Ona Innis

Innis is known for her use of satin, but this is the first time she has popped her work out of the two-dimensional realm. Even during her recent residency at MacDowell, she didn't venture into 3-D. The director and curator of SFACG, Meg Schiffler, recognized that Innis' aesthetic would complement Electric Sheep, but was pleasantly surprised to see how she really took advantage of the space for her first site-specific exhibition.

Innis transformed stylish bedroom material into pearly "biomorphic growth." You can find her "pookies," as she calls them, creeping up walls, piled high in corners, sneaking out of unseen cracks, beckoning you to come roll around, become one with it as it takes over the rest of the building. Like poison ivy or a blushing schoolgirl, this exhibit is a nocuous beauty, innocently offering the soft texture of its skin—needless to say, it pulses in sexual overtone. The weed-like wires jutting out of the walls really played up the unnerving/enticing quality of the exhibit. It appeared as though someone ripped wires out of the wall in a fit of anger. Consequently, the wires dripped and splayed rosy and warm brown tones onto the walls and some of the satin growth clusters. Perhaps they were murdered pookies.
Electric Sheep (2001-2002), Amy Globus

My sinus cavities were extremely congested as I watched the octopi push their way through the curvy tube that connected the two tanks in Electric Sheep. Globus' exhibit was the analogy I had been looking for all day whenever people inquired about my health. Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris and This Mortal Coil's Song to Siren were weaved together to provide the soundtrack for the sea creatures as they appeared to be in pain and, then, at peace—sometimes simultaneously. Due to the seductive nature of the Harris song and the electrifying shots of tight squeezes and slithery movements—sex and entrapment inevitably came to mind. As did aliens. I assume the position of some of the viewers when I say that the experience of watching the exhibit progressed into a subtle panic. Like, am I that octopus? The video's hypnotizing effect called attention to the fragility of life. Schiffler calls it "a graphic illustration of humanity."

Globus illustrated a rare demonstration of humanity when she rescued the two octopi from a food vendor in New York. The frail, tangled creatures were put in a specially constructed saltwater tank transforming her studio into a "beautiful environment." Then came the realization that octopi were extremely challenging (see: www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/invert.htm) to keep as pets. Globus' tenderness towards the eight limbed muses radiated through Electric Sheep and translated an awareness of death—particularly the type of situation where accepting the death of another results in a sense of defeat for the one that survives.
Electric Sheep (2001-2002), Amy Globus

Casting a sideways glance over to Philip K. Dick, everyone's seen what the guys—namely Robert Crumb, Ridley Scott, Bas Van Koolwijk—have done with his words, but female interpretations/representations of his work are scarce (at least, on the larger scale). In fact, the title Electric Sheep was derived from Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the piece was originally exhibited in the Future Noir show at Gorney, Bravin, + Lee in New York. With Globus' art, the viewer doesn't have to know anything about Dick in order to be moved by Globus. I find that a lot of Dick-inspired art results in being somewhat an homage or, at least, iconic. Electric Sheep makes a subtle reference to the sci-fi noir aesthetic that PKD has helped create.

Arguably, Globus plays a part in the Goth revival, right alongside Banks Violette. But again, not as explicitly. Whereas Violette plays up the kitsch of twenty-first century Goth (if a skeleton of a chapel found in the audible atmosphere of black metal isn't kitschy goth, I don't know what is), Globus merely touches on Goth sensibilities. Her work is dark, but it doesn't entirely adopt the genre. Her art seems to be driven by her ability to manipulate visual rhythm and layers of sound.

"In the visual sense, it is mostly about sexuality—about darkness and rebirth," Schiffler commented. Innis' exhibit intensifies the pheromonic nature of the Conversation while Globus instills a subtle sense of fear. Thus, the two artists identify sex at its best and/or worst: it exposes and stifles.

Regarding the hybrid of squeamish and ultra-feminine art, there have been far too many Meret Oppenheim spin-offs. This is a popular time for apathy and it lends itself to lackluster American artists that are willing to use pastel-puke pigments and lightly reference the ways beautiful can be ugly, but are unable to truly unfurl their imaginations and cast light on the queasy elements of pretty/fragile subject matter. Conversations 3, on the other hand, captured a particular quality of gross in one of the loveliest ways possible.

Conversations 3: Amy Globus and Cynthia Ona Innis is on view at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, call (415) 554-6080, or visit www.sfacgallery.org


Veronica Kavass is a writer based in San Francisco, CA.