Root Division’s 17th Annual Art Auction is just around the corner! Whether you’re looking to buy your first original artwork or you’re looking for the next piece to add to your collection, this event is a great way to directly support Bay Area emerging and established artists.
Since 2002, Root Division has provided studios for more than 180 artists, trained more than 260 art teachers, exhibited more than 2,400 artists, and generated close to 40,000 volunteer hours for the SF Bay Area community!
As our 17th Annual Art Auction quickly approaches, and the 150+ artworks are in the final stages of install, Exhibitions Fellow Sherwin Rio picked five artworks by Root Division Studio Artists that you MUST see at the October 25th event.
Salome El is no stranger to process-oriented methods of art-making. Skilled in printmaking and dark room photography, she’s been exploring different mediums during her time as an artist at Root Division. Salome’s Cyanotype- Bird is a captivating example of her memory-centric body of work– a subtle, soft cyanotype of a bird flying through and fading into the sky. Delicate monochromatic painterly shapes juxtaposed with the direct, quick marks of the artist’s hand during the chemistry process on velvety paper makes Cyanotype- Bird a particularly alluring piece to see.
There is a visceral physicality in Nope. You’re Not Kissing These Lips Again, Homeboi by Greta Liz Anderson. Punning the pincushion, the cushioned silk pair of green lips are punctured with dozens of sewing pins but unlike the pincushion, the artist places the pins from the inside out– creating a warning of prickly spikes that protect the lips. Currently in her second year as Root Division’s Latinx Fellow, Greta has been creating wearables that encourage the viewer to assess their own bodily relationship with the artwork.
Mindscape 1 by Bay Area-born artist Nick Maltagliati is a piece you shouldn’t miss. Maltagliati’s fusion of identity, mental health, sexuality, and Californian landscape metaphors is full of overlapping forms and lines, moving and flowing from one area to the next. Using a multitude of materials– thread tautly tied around protruding nails, photo negatives and vinyl laid over paint, and collaging materials together like beads, copper, and cork– Mindscape 1 is a piece full of aesthetic surprise.
Oakland-based artist, Lucy Stark harmoniously balances pattern, design, color, and form in In the Tub. Often dealing with the seemingly every day, Stark’s work depicts daily tasks and recognizable domestic situations rendered in carefully composed bright colors. Additionally, her work depicts the intimacy of home, as a recognizable place of sanctuary, comfort and the familiar. At the center point of this work is the female body partially-submerged, simplified into a series of abstract shapes and forms, surrounded by a selection of subtly sexual objects.
Andrew Ingersoll is one of the newest additions to Root Division’s Studios Programs. Ingersoll’s Patriot Kit inserts humor into a deeply volatile political environment. Ingersoll has affixed a small plastic American flag on top of bright green astroturf that is blowing in the “wind” from a small fan. His use of materials suggests a fake-ness and fragility to nationhood and political certitude, and that at any moment is ready to collapse. Ingersoll’s combination of materials ultimately questions American values and what it stands for.
Join first-time and seasoned collectors in bidding on over 150 works by Bay Area artists at Root Division’s 17th Annual Benefit Art Auction on Thursday, October 25th from 7 – 10 pm. Tickets available online.
Can’t make it to the main event or don’t want to compete for your favorite work? Preview, and purchase early at our free *Buy it Now* Auction Preview on Saturday, October 13th from 5 – 8pm.
Out of town or unable to attend in person? You can buy online! Review available works on our Online Store!