By Rebecca Wallace
About this blog: I grew up in Menlo Park and have long been involved with both local journalism and local theater. After starting my career as an editorial intern with The Almanac, I was a staff reporter for the Almanac and the San Mateo County Ti...
(More)About this blog: I grew up in Menlo Park and have long been involved with both local journalism and local theater. After starting my career as an editorial intern with The Almanac, I was a staff reporter for the Almanac and the San Mateo County Times, covering local government, cops, health/science and many other beats. In 2005 I made the move to the arts desk at the Palo Alto Weekly. A&E is close to my heart because of my experience in the performing arts. I've been acting and singing in Bay Area theater productions for years, and have played everything from a sassy French boy to a Texas cheerleader. In Ad Libs, I blog about the exhibitions I see, the artists I meet and the intriguing new projects and trends I see in the arts world.
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SoCal meets Palo Alto in a new show of 15 paintings by PA native Bryan Ida. On round and rectangular panels, his thick epoxy layers recall his history with Southern California architecture: its boxes and lines, the experience of looking straight up at a tall building and losing all perspective. When a city becomes all abstract floaters, can you still feel connected to it?
Ida's local ties (besides playing the French horn in the El Camino Youth Symphony) include his stint as a studio assistant for the late abstract expressionist painter Sam Francis in Francis' Palo Alto studio. This was an influential time for the young artist.
"We often talked about the correlation between music and painting, how it is really the same thing just using different senses," Ida says on his website. "I have applied some of the same principles of music theory to my visual practice."
Ida's works are on display May 31 through Aug. 8 at Stanford Art Spaces, together with paintings by Warren J. Hedgpeth and fiber constructions by Aryana B. Londir.
Pictured: "Santa Monica Night" by Bryan Ida
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