Movement

Opening Friday August 25th 2017 (7-10 PM)  

Blue Mark Studios proudly presents “Movement”, a joint-exhibition by Atlanta artists Niki Zarrabi and Julio Ceballos. Featuring two distinct bodies of work, "Movement" explores both the spiritual and physical forces that impact and shape our world.

Located in downstairs Blue Mark Gallery, Zarrabi expresses metaphysical themes of cognition, reincarnation, and spirituality through an intricate combination of surrealism and mixed media. Alternatively, Julio Ceballo's visually-charged and dynamic paintings derive their inspiration from the tension and chaos that exist between civic and civil progress.

Niki Zarrabi’s

My work explores the complex relationship between spirituality and the science of human existence. I use art to study the structure of our universe as a means to understanding its sustenance. By recreating the delicate infrastructures of biology in layered pieces, I am abstractly interpreting my own understanding of our existence. My goal is to provide the audience with an alternate perception of the countless, fragile yet complex elements that come together in order to give us life.

Statement on oil painting/melting pieces:

This series of paintings explores the concept of reincarnation and the connectedness that exists between all life forms. The subject matter, usually focused on plants and flowers, represents life. They are painted to seem as if melting into the woodgrain of the panel which represents a phase of death, thus returning to nature to repeat the cycle of reincarnation.

Julio Ceballos

My work has primarily focused on the interconnection between technology, the natural world and our identity as a society. This new series derives its inspiration specifically from the tension and chaos that exist between civic and civil progress. I take into consideration how issues common to a rapidly growing metropolis such as city planning, gentrification and economic inequality affect both personal and social identity. I draw inspiration from first-hand observations of all aspects of city life and utilize geometric abstraction to emphasize the aesthetics of an ever changing cityscape. I see the city as an ongoing "work in progress" and its growth and development as a reflection of the evolution of its inhabitants. We exist in a constant cycle of destruction and construction. Through these abstract cityscapes, Im attempting to depict the struggle to define identity both as a society as well as individuals and how that very struggle shapes the environment in which we reside.