Reception for the Artist
Saturday, February 4, 6 to 8pm
Catalog available through gallery

In her exquisitely textured graphite drawings with oil, Jane Hambleton manages to capture divers, swimmers, waders and floaters frozen in liminal space. By purposely tweaking perspective, Hambleton is able to get at something existential in the human condition. Figures hover, poised in ambiguous space where everything exists at once – freedom, flying, danger, trust, fear, courage and uncertainty. Even such givens as “up” and “down” and “in” and “out” become open to interpretation.

Hambleton’s medium is in concert with her message. Drawn on beautiful large sheets of paper hung freely from the wall, the works themselves appear ephemeral. In fact the surface has been layered and textured with gel medium and oil. The clear textures are rubbed with pigment giving the work both strength and a deeply satisfying surface.

Hambleton grew up in sleepy suburban Santa Clara, California and began drawing (and swimming) as a child. Swimming competitively and working as a lifeguard, her childhood memories are often centered around a pool. She is well-acquainted with the visceral feeling of being in water, submerged, floating or suspended in space above the surface. She studied graphic design and illustration at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and continued her studies at CCA. A successful graphic designer, Hambleton always maintained her own studio and developed her personal expression. In 2008, her first one person exhibition, Water Safety opened at Michael Rosenthal Gallery. Since that time she has shown consistently and was represented in international fairs, such as Pulse, New York, Aqua, Miami and Art.Fair 21, Cologne, Germany.