Vivienne Flesher
THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A BLACKBIRD
Sept. 12 - Nov. 7
Artist’s Reception: September 19, 3-5pm
The Wind Descended With Cooling Down the Nerves, 2025, archival print on metal, 12" x 12"
The Fourth Wall is pleased to present Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird-over 30 digital collages by artist Vivienne Flesher. Flesher has a long and notable history as a New York illustrator. Her career includes U.S.P.S. stamps, the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone Magazine, NPR, Harper’s, the NY Review of Books, to name a few. Now living in San Francisco, the majority of her time is spent creating personal work
Around 2000, the computer began to play a larger part in her illustration work and she became excited by the possibilities for her personal work, as well. That discovery led to the digital collages she is doing now. Released from the requirements of illustration jobs, a new freedom of ideas and images opened up for her.
She explained, "I was always working on my own but would share my personal work and photography only with the few art directors who are themselves artists in their own right. They, in turn, took chances with my computer generated images—as an example, the Kennedy Center JAPAN! Project—which I turned into a show at Stir Gallery in Shanghai, China."
"The work in Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird utilizes photos from my travels as well as personal objects, drawings and paintings, plus signs and typography discovered while walking in the city. I’ve included some of these objects with the images they are used in. The name of this show derives from the title of a poem by Wallace Stevens."
A Group of Bottle Knockers, 2025, Giclée print on paper, 15" x 20"
Rosemary Became What She Was, 2025, Giclée print on paper, 9" x 12"
She Flashed Her Romantic Eyes, 2025, Giclée print on paper, 20.75" x 19.5"
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Vivienne Flesher’s photographs and drawings have appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, American Express, Random House, Harper’s, NYReview of Books, Bloomingdale’s, Shiseido. Vivienne has worked on animations for Pfizer. She has created campaigns for Starbucks and Macy’s, Canon, and Broadway theater posters. Her children’s book East of the Sun West of the Moon was animated and shown on PBS. She has produced stamps for the United States Postal Service. Images originally produced for the The Kennedy Center’s JAPAN! grew into a series of large-scale images for an exhibition combining painting with photography at Stir Gallery in Shanghai, China. She has shown at Jack Fischer Gallery SF CA, Zeitgeist Gallery Nashville TN, Pallas Gallery SF CA, Parco Gallery, Tokyo. This is her first one person show at The Fourth Wall Gallery, Oakland CA
Gale Antokal
The Cascades
On display in the hallway gallery
Sept. 12 - Nov. 7
Artist’s Reception: September 19, 3-5pm
Cascade 11.23.21, 2021, acrylic Ink on synthetic paper, 8.5" x 17.5" framed
The Fourth Wall is pleased to present work from Gale Antokal's The Cascades series in the hallway gallery. Water soluble ink, brushes, squeegees and sponges on synthetic paper combine to create gorgeous and unpredictable imagery. They open with broad upward strokes, and where the feathery brushwork ends, become an arena of counterpoints filled with down rushes. The ink on a non-porous synthetic paper reverts to the original white surface – a surface beset with unexpected and risky challenges.
Antokal explains, "This smooth surface can completely wipe away the ink in an instant and erase all history. Then I have to begin again without a ghost or trace of the original foundation. On its way to becoming something, the painting is always poised on an edge of failure. These works often take days to resolve. Sometimes just a small passage is all that remains after an entire day. Other times the entire painting will be lost. A small misstep may result in an enormous shift in direction. I constantly watch these paintings collapse with a shock of loss, yet trust I will find my way back. The process is often indeterminate and it's conclusion, more like a surrender. This is where I find the painting’s definitive beauty."
Cascade 6.21.22, 2022, acrylic Ink on synthetic paper, 8.5" x 17.5" framed
Cascade 10.1.23, 2023, acrylic Ink on synthetic paper, 8.5" x 17.5" framed
Cascade 3.8.25, 2025, acrylic Ink on synthetic paper, 8.5"x 17.5" framed
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gale Antokal was born in New York, New York, and received her BFA (1980) and MFA from the California College of the Arts in 1984. She is a Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University in the Department of Art and Art History. Antokal held several visiting artist positions and teaching positions including the San Francisco Art Institute, Instructor of Art History at the Lehrhaus Institute, and the American College in Jerusalem. She was an affiliate faculty member in the JSSItaly program in Civita Castellana, Italy in 2015. In 1992 Antokal received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is represented by Chandler Gallery in San Francisco, Donna Seager Fine Arts in San Rafael, and Amy Simon Fine Arts in Westport Connecticut. Her work is included in public, private and international collections.