PRESS RELEASE – May 29, 2007                                                                                     

Duck Soup only makes it look easy at Varnish Fine Art

Featuring the works of Ana Bagayan, Michael Beck, Justin DeGarmo and Joseph Daniel Fiedler

June 12 – July 28, 2007

Opening Reception: Thursday June 14, 7-10pm.

San Francisco, CA -- May 29, 2007 -- With a penchant for fine detail, four illustrators, Ana Bagayan, Michael Beck, Justin DeGarmo and Joseph Daniel Fiedler focus our gaze on the private moments of flora, fauna, fantastical creatures and inanimate objects.  

 
Ana Bagayan “Bird’s Brood” 2007 Oil on Panel

Ana Bagayan moved to Burbank, California from her birthplace in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan.  Having earned a degree in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ana’s work has been received internationally and has been featured in such publications as Rolling Stone, Spin, GQ and various others.  Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, including 2004’s “Urban Tales” at Varnish Fine Art.  Bagayan’s new series of paintings and drawings, with their surreal country landscapes and creatures from her own fantastical mythology, capture the private moments of her subjects in an imagined nature.

Berkeley, California painter and illustrator Joseph Daniel Fiedler hails from the Appalachian hill country of Western Pennsylvania.  His accolades include a Silver Medal from the New York Society of Illustrators and recognition from such publications as Graphis, Print, Communication Arts, and American Illustration.  In this latest body of work, waterfowl, leaves of chard and Godzilla spark airy reminiscences.  “Fiedler produces exquisite artworks; the landscapes are magically transporting while the lustrous colors radiate an antique, spiritual quality.”—Kirkus Reviews.  

Justin DeGarmo values his upbringing with a Marine Corps dad that exposed him to different ways of life through constant relocating.  Developing an interest in drawing early on, DeGarmo gathers inspiration from current events, bits of social interaction, childhood memories, food, music, and he’s a sucker for pretty packaging.  

Having received his MFA in Painting with High Distinction from the California College of Arts in 1984, Michael Beck has shown extensively throughout the US.  “This new body of work,” says Beck, “Explores the boundaries of what is an acceptable object in a fine art painting.”  Michael Beck’s paintings, based in the realist tradition, isolate and subtly twist our gaze around peculiar objects found at flea markets and thrift shops that have no reference to anything but themselves.  

*High-resolution images available upon request
Gallery Directors Jennifer Rogers and Kerri Stephens opened Varnish Fine Art on April 19, 2003.  Beginning with the remains of a brewery built just after the 1906 earthquake, Rogers and Stephens designed and rebuilt the space, including a main gallery, mezzanine gallery and wine bar, combining gallery with community.  

Press Contact:    
Jennifer Rogers
Varnish Fine Art    
415-222-6131
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