Photograph by George Sakkestad

Just like his art, George Rivera poses in the new exhibit at the Tait Museum.

Exhibit contrasts painting and sculpture

By Amy Golod

Black-and-white paintings of human figures sharply contrast with earth-toned sculptures at the Los Gatos Museum of Fine Art and Natural History this month. The museum features paintings by George Rivera and sculptures by Randall Shiroma, both local artists.

Although the pieces by each artist differ, they both capture natural elements. Rivera's pieces illustrate human emotion, while Shiroma's represent aspects of nature.

Rivera is the executive director at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara and an advisory board member of the San Jose Art League. He also teaches Bay Area art history at the UC-Berkeley Extension in San Francisco, drawing and painting at Mission College in Santa Clara and life drawing and painting for the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. For his own projects, Rivera has recently focused on painting figures, capturing the emotions expressed in body language.

"My work is about love, not just romantic love, but the love of life even in the darkest moments--the reality of ever-enduring hope and never giving up," Rivera explains in his artist's statement.

Spirituality plays a large role in Rivera's life. He says many of his paintings include a cross, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden, such as in the pupil of an eye. He says he tries to paint emotions that are private, but common to most humans.

Rivera remembers an instance where a woman claimed to see a reflection of herself in a painted, melancholy figure. Her husband later admitted the figure resembled an image of his wife when she was depressed.

By using very little if any color in his paintings, Rivera creates an illusion of movement and tension in areas such as the hands or the face. He also views using black and white as a means of creating a surrealistic appearance.

Joining Rivera's paintings are Shiroma's flowing sculptures. One piece, "Sipapu" (a Southwest Indian term meaning "Navel of the Earth") is more than 5 feet high. It has a rough exterior near the bottom and a smooth surface at its peak. After studying Indian culture, Shiroma says, he was inspired to create a sculpture representing a connection to the earth. The uneven texture symbolizes an association with the ground, as soil and rocks make for an inconsistent surface.

"[Sipapu] deals with the knowledge that we're connected to the earth, and that's why I like my pieces to have that grounding," Shiroma explains.

He also enjoys working with terrazzo, an Italian method in which pieces of marble are set in concrete and polished. Originally, he learned to work with clay. However, clay needs to be fired, and the pieces he wanted to make were too large to fit in a kiln. He switched to terrazzo because it does not need firing.

Shiroma uses various colors to symbolize different natural elements. For example, he uses blue to represent water. He feels a great connection with water, which he attributes to having grown up in Hawaii.

Shiroma teaches sculpture and ceramics at San Jose State University and has studied and exhibited in Hawaii as well as California.

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The exhibit runs through Oct. 1. The Los Gatos Museum of Fine Art and Natural History, at 4 Tait Ave., is open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

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