Cynthia Hurley

Wetness, Dryness

• October 20-November 13, 2003
• Gallery reception October 21 6:30 pm
• Artist talk in the gallery at 7:00 pm

Cynthia Hurley’s paintings and drawings of quiet pond creatures and tranquil desert lifeforms ponder why seekers have been drawn to the indifference of fierce landscapes for centuries, and why inhuman landscapes should be a source of spiritual comfort. The work has a poetic, metaphoric and mythic sensibility, an often spiritual content, as well as a narrative quality. Using the ancient symbols of “wetness” and “dryness” for things fertile, for transitions of the flesh and soil, and all things immortal, of fire, passion and the soul, Hurley explores the dualism related to the dilemma of art production. She explores the emotions of – “wanting to be an outsider, a loner, and using life as fuel for art, and simultaneously wanting to belong, experiencing life directly without having to reform it into art.” Dryness and heat correspond to the predominance of fire, the active element, Wetness corresponds to water, the element of passivity and dissolution.

Cynthia Hurley has studied at the University of Oregon, Eugene (BA, MA Art History), the University of Alberta, Edmonton (BFA) and York University, Toronto (MFA). Hurley has shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Canada, including the Solomon Dubnick Gallery in Sacramento, the Fulcrum Gallery of Richmond, Virginia and the Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto, Canada. Her work is in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, York University Collection, the Ontario Arts Council, Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the corporate collection of Lavalin, Inc. Her awards include a Canada Council B Grant, Canada Council Studio at P.S. 1, New York, and she recently received a New Works Grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Her public art commissions include the Metro Center, City of Toronto, Ontario, the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Sacramento, and she is currently working on the Amtrack/Folsom Corridor Light Rail Extension Project, in Sacramento