Leigh Hyams: Painting and drawing on unstretched canvas
Rolando Castellón: Drawing and mixed media
Curated by Theres Rohan

Running concurrantly with At the End of the Road and Always the Water by Viv Corringham

The new body of work by Leigh Hyams is entirely different from her exuberant, surreal blossom forms we recall. The new work, presented under the title The Ancient Presence, shows an entirely new focus away from the biological realm towards Mexico, and its ancient sites.

Leigh Hyams did her homework. She traveled by taxi, on foot, by boats up and down brown rivers, sleeping in hammocks to lay her eye on Mexico's mysterious past.

The new work by Leigh Hyams here at Meridian Gallery tells us something we learn only from an artist's point of view. Reading her canvas, all unstretched and relic like objects in themselves, conveys past and present alike. It is a magic mix, where dots and lines and occasional applications of acrylic paint and rubbings of exotic blossoms lead the way to our own curiosity.

Leigh Hyams is a distinguished artist of international recognition. Her work is represented in various venerable San Francisco Bay Area institutions such as the Achenbach Collection at the Legion of Honor, the Oakland Museum and the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose. Her work has been shown at Paco Imperial, and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as well as at the Museo de la Ciudad Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico.

When Rolando Castellón touches materials - they become art. A bold statement perhaps - but there have been others. There is the tradition of Josef Beuys, who many regard as the father of material art.

In his new, small show here at Meridian Gallery Rolando chooses again material substances he has transformed time and again. These come mostly, but not exclusively, from the natural world. They do not in themselves have what we might consider artfulness. But he teaches us [time and again] that by his choosing them, by his placing them, they indeed are transformed into an idea, a new meaning. And ephemeral they are; dry flowers, pea pods just to name some. His individual works become archaic tableaux, yet they are breathing present tense. This is his magic.

Castellón resides now in San Jose Costa Rica. He has, most recently, been invited to Germany and to Spain for solo shows. We are always glad to have him back in the Bay Area; after all, he left an indomitable legacy here as curator (SFMOMA) and as co-founder of Galería de la Raza.

Theres Rohan, Curator