San Francisco, CA - Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Welcome,” a series of new paintings by Oakland-based Ryan Martin. Working in oils, Martin composes vivid portraits and fantastical pastoral scenes of young men and young women, often with young reptiles, young pachyderms, and young ungulates.  A stylistic virtuoso, he uses smooth, groomed brushstrokes to render flora and fauna in electrified photorealistic detail while deploying broad, expressionistic flourishes of color and texture for background.  On view 5 June - 31 July, 2008. Reception: June 5, 2008, 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

Martin’s paintings are titled after popular songs by artists such as 2Pac, Madonna, and the Smiths, and ostensibly serve as interpretations of the songs’ lyrics.  At the same time, the paintings are imbued with an ineffable symbolic code, falling somewhere between the pagan and the biblical, the art-historical and the collective subconscious.  Executed with a boundary-pushing palette, the effect is placed yet jarring, threatening yet whimsical.  The canvases recall in their way, the self-confidence of the late Italian Baroque: bold, lavish, dramatic, unabashedly humanistic and utterly devoid of cynicism.  They remind us (thankfully) that the medium of painting will always and inevitably re-emerge from its periodic dormancies to offer ever-new creative frontiers for succeeding generations of artists to explore, interpret, and express.

Born during the Reagan Administration, Martin was, until recently, a student at the California College of the Arts (CCA).  He has exhibited with Mark Wolfe Contemporary at art fairs in Miami Beach and New York, and in group shows at Bluebird Art House in Whittier.  This is his first solo exhibition.

About the Gallery

Located in the 49 Geary building (suite 202) in the heart of downtown San Francisco, Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art (formerly Urbis Artium Gallery) exhibits a range of local and international art with an emphasis on emerging and mid-career artists. 

The gallery began as a salon  in San Francisco's vibrant South of Market district, offering artists a space in which to exchange ideas in an informal setting. As Urbis Artium grew, director Mark Wolfe took the gallery in a more formal direction, moving it to its present location in 2005. Today, the gallery remains committed to nurturing emerging artists, drawing talent from San Francisco and around the world. 

Wolfe Contemporary is proud to present a diverse roster of artists, working in a wide range of media - from painting to video art - all sharing a commitment to conceptual rigor and a firm command of their craft. The gallery's artists have garnered critical praise in local and national publications and media, including art ltd, Artweek, KQED Public Television, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, S.F. Weekly, S.F. Bay Guardian, Flash Art, and Village Voice, and have exhibited at the Civic Gallery of Milan, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and numerous other venues.

The gallery is currently housed in a 1912 structure that once held the Western Union headquarters. The space functions as a kunsthalle, playing host to many site-specific installations. Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art encourages artists to take risks - to push their art to the boundary and beyond. Visit Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art at : www.wolfecontemporary.com  Email : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it