Gale Antokal: The Cascades @ The Fourth Wall

The Fourth Wall is pleased to present work from Gale Antokal's The Cascades series in the hallway gallery.  Water soluble ink, brushes, squeegees and sponges on synthetic paper combine to create gorgeous and unpredictable imagery. They open with broad upward strokes, and where the feathery brushwork ends, become an arena of counterpoints filled with down rushes. The ink on a non-porous synthetic paper reverts to the original white surface – a surface beset with unexpected and risky challenges. 

Antokal explains, "This smooth surface can completely wipe away the ink in an instant and erase all history. Then I have to begin again without a ghost or trace of the original foundation. On its way to becoming something, the painting is always poised on an edge of failure. These works often take days to resolve. Sometimes just a small passage is all that remains after an entire day. Other times the entire painting will be lost. A small misstep may result in an enormous shift in direction. I constantly watch these paintings collapse with a shock of loss, yet trust I will find my way back. The process is often indeterminate and it's conclusion, more like a surrender. This is where I find the painting’s definitive beauty."

Gale Antokal was born in New York, New York, and received her BFA (1980) and MFA from the California College of the Arts in 1984. She is a Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University in the Department of Art and Art History. Antokal held several visiting artist positions and teaching positions including the San Francisco Art Institute, Instructor of Art History at the Lehrhaus Institute, and the American College in Jerusalem. She was an affiliate faculty member in the JSSItaly program in Civita Castellana, Italy in 2015. In 1992 Antokal received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is represented by Chandler Gallery in San Francisco, Donna Seager Fine Arts in San Rafael, and Amy Simon Fine Arts in Westport Connecticut. Her work is included in public, private and international collections.