Color Me Free
New work by Sandi Billingsley
As an artist I’ve always been inspired by liberty because it can so easily be taken away. The signature piece of this show is a riff on the famous painting “The Goldfinch” by Carel Fabritus, which depicts a beautiful creature born to fly free chained to a wall for human amusement. I wanted to show the cruelty humans have imprisoning innocent animals, who in truth are so desperate for liberty that they’d live free or die. Fortunately we live in a country whose most important ideal is liberty, which is why I painted the Statue of Liberty in an epic piece whose very surface is done in a style that cannot be deliberately controlled. I also explore how gender ideals confuse and limit us when they should really empower us–we are most
liberated when we all share the same table. Finally, I explore the beauty and liberty of dance; dance has been forbidden to humans throughout history, yet accompanied with music, it is one of our deepest and most personal forms of human expression.
A self taught artist, I’ve been a muralist and faux painter for twenty years, developing my own techniques to express a kaleidescopic array of surfaces, techniques I use in my painting. My paintings are born out of my love for life and need for self expression; my paintings have shown in galleries and shows on the East and West Coast over the past ten years.
Artist Reception: Friday May 1st, 7–11pm
part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk in downtown San Jose
Exhibition dates: May 1–29, 2015
88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando)
San Jose, CA 95112
info@KALEIDGallery.com
408-947-1785Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm
Free admission