Tobias Tovera’s work is now featured on the Plaza Level of 555 California Street, San Francisco through December. Tovera’s beautiful paintings are marked by richly saturated color dramatically suspended in pure white space, emphatically marking the study of time, or the current moment. His expansive use of saturated color, beyond the strict confines of his space, draw the viewer into an arresting fraction of time that is at once meditative, soothing and visually stimulating. Tovera is a young artist who earned his BFA from CCA in 2001.
Tobias Tovera, Luminous Rising, 60 x 60, 2009. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Micaëla Gallery
Tobias is a young Filipino-American painter, who resides in California, with a stunning repertoire of work in painting and video. His work is thoroughly contemporary. He works with a minimalist feel although on a grand scale. His academic credentials include a BFA from the California College of the Arts, as well as studies in interior architecture at San Diego.
“In my artwork, I am interested in discovering transmuted spaces, places where energy shifts, changes, or renews itself. Through an exploration of the interstices between opposing elements, such as nature and artifice or chaos and order, I wish to explore entropic systems where healing may occur. I want my audience to be left with question and confronted by a raw sense of what it means to be human.”
At present, Tobias creates work that addresses the self, sexuality, and the psyche by delving into the highly charged terrain of the body, light, and space. He captures converging walls and the human body, constantly creating compositions that conjure layered textures of form and space. While he may begin with an idea or concept, his photo-assemblages and videos also form a natural rhythm of their own. This method serves to create work that is constantly evolving. As an artist, Tobias confronts our expectations of visual media to offer a new image and interpretation of the world. He states, “As we oscillate and devour the world in our struggle to live, may we find ourselves seduced by inner beauty.”
www.tobiastovera.com
