Schoos Night Gallery Opening, Los Angeles: July 31, 2015 /  by Paul Ecke

For Immediate Release Paul Ecke

Mechanisms & Meditations Paintings and SculptureArtist Opening Reception Friday, July 31, 2015 Exhibition continues through August 31, 2015

SCHOOS NIGHT GALLERY 8271 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90046 Tel: 323.822.2800

Schoos Night Gallery is pleased to announce as its
premiere exhibition: Paul Ecke: Mechanisms and &
Meditations. For over 30 years, Ecke has created
paintings that are an amalgam of color, texture and movement achieved through application of oil and acrylic paints, all applied by brush, hand and even trowel. In this body of work, which consists of his well known industrial paintings and also newly developed waterfall series, the artist has experimented with reclaimed materials paired with digital media to tell a comprehensive narrative about the connections between humans and industry. Deep within each of his works is the concept of the vast connectiveness between us as a global population and our own personal inner spiritual dialogue.

These works have brought Ecke back to his earlier influences where the artist exemplifies his original techniques of constructing and deconstructing a composition so that the work is self evident. For many of his new works, Ecke has enjoyed utilizing resin paired with mixed media techniques to create a unified marriage between the technological and traditional approaches to art making.

Paul Ecke has been a full-time contributor to the contemporary art world since 1985.  His works are in the collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Michigan , De Saisset Museum of Art, Santa Clara, Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento and Chapman University, Orange. For more information on the artist, please visit www.paulecke.com.

Axiom Contemporary, Los Angeles: June 3, 2013 /  by Paul Ecke

Press Release

Exhibition: THE ART OF CONVERSATIONS
Showing: JUNE 3RD 2015 - JULY 2015

Paul Ecke’s newest works encompass the nuances of the word conversations.  A conversation in its purest sense is the ideal form of communication because it allows for the element of dialogue to enter where dissimilar points of view can be raised and engaged upon. For a successful conversation, there must a sense of balance and mutually interesting connections.  Here is where Ecke’s newest series excels in its complexity.  

Where his “Fractals” suite emphasized the power of singular thought placed into the form of prayer, “Conversations” delves into the richness of dialogue with others and oneself.  This has been a very personal journey for Ecke, as he has had to confront illness this past year.  This path has allowed him to touch a more empathetic and patient part of himself. 

Each painting is titled conversation as one is not more important than the others nor is there a beginning or end.  Instead Ecke asks the viewer to walk along his path where sometimes in the quiet moments of waiting, which he inscribes on many of the works, he finds answers greater than himself.  

The childlike drawings impart a sense of whimsy and playfulness but on a deeper more intuitive level these show the psychological affect that sickness has not only on the body but also on one’s spirit.  Ecke travels back to a child’s interpretation of safety with the entrance of the circle.  The form becomes a symbol of unity, completeness and wellness.  In many ways it harkens back to the comfort of the womb and the safety of a mother’s caressing arms.  

Throughout the works there is the element of words.  It is through language that man separates himself from the animal kingdom.  Words can harm and at the same time words can also create.  In breaking down the letters and then building them up again, Ecke breathes new life and a new beginning into these letters.  He asks us to question not only outwardly for meaning but inwardly.  For only in understanding ourselves can we grasp the universe beyond.  And in coming to the beauty within then can we bring wholeness and kindness to others.

Art Institute, Orange County: November 2011 /  by Paul Ecke

Press Release

Exhibition: FRACTALS
Showing: November 2011 - January 2012

In his series “Fractals,” Paul Ecke explores the complexities of human inter-relationships in the form of the line, pattern and color.  Ecke addresses the timeless journey of the eternal acting as a shamen.  He in turn allows us to confront the passages of birth, life and death.  In nature as well as mathematics, fractals are geometric objects that in their basest form contain self-similar structures that are repeated in the whole.  Thus, everything comes from and is composed of fractals.  For, Ecke the fractal becomes his meditative mantra and his path-road into this life experience.  From the child to the man, life is composed of repeating relationships and inter-connecting journeys.  His stripes transform into intersections and his circles become cycles of consciousness.  Each artwork is created through applying multi-layers of paint and media and then stripping them away.  Thus, even in his process, Ecke demonstrates that all can be deconstructed and constructed again from simple elements.  With each piece the viewer is then asked to engage in their own personal dialogue of their roadmap. 

"The Human Canvas": Gebert Gallery, Los Angeles: November 19th, 2010 /  by Paul Ecke

Press Release

Exhibition: THE HUMAN CANVAS
Showing: November 19th 2010 - December 15th 2010

In "The Human Canvas," artist, Paul Ecke explores the reality that each of us is tattooed, some on the outside but all on the inside, where we all hide our burdens and pleasures in a very secret way. This suite is a continuation of the artist's earlier work "Men Behind Gates." "Men Behind Gates" represented a return to his classical figurative training and became an awakening of man's emotional struggles--struggles imposed by society as well as self. Like "Men Behind Gates," this is a raw and an emotionally driven series that is both bold and honest in content. Yet "The Human Canvas" forgoes the implementation of the painted gate and instead propels the viewer to a more provocative and passionate exploration through the form of the tattoo.

Each painting was a collaboration of letters, drawings from tattoo artists and models who all participated to bring each work to fruition. All were united through the commonality of the tattoo--the art form of using skin as canvas. [...] On the surface, the artist was confronted by the cultural stereotypes of tattoos. Instead he found intellectuals, professionals and artistic expression. He examined the historical, trends and decorative nature of the tattoo and discovered that the tattoo consciously or unconsciously is another form of a doorway to one's deeper self.

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