‘Warren’s Eye’ opens at Petaluma Arts Center

Exhibit showcases works from Warren Davis’ Vintage Bank Antiques|

PLANNING TO GO?

What: Warren’s Eye: Paintings From The Vintage Bank

When: Saturday, July 21-Saturday, August 4. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Opening night reception Saturday, July 21, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. RSVP at PetalumaArtsCenter.org.

Where: Petaluma Arts Center, 230 Lakeville St., at the SMART Train station.

Information: PetalumaArtsCenter.org.

“Behind the flowers is a tiger, do you see that?” asks Jude Mooney, pointing to a vibrant painting, of what appear to be jungle orchids, now hanging on the wall of the Petaluma Arts Center. Sure enough, after several seconds, a tiger appears in a corner of the painting. Laughs Mooney, “I looked at that painting ten or fifteen times before I finally saw that tiger.”

Mooney, a Petaluma photographer (her company is Shining Doe Photography) and a member of the PAC’s exhibition committee, has been hard at work hanging paintings in time for the opening of “Warren’s Eye: Paintings from the Vintage Bank” (July 21-Aug. 4), a brief “pop-up” exhibit of which Mooney is curator. Coming at a time when the financial future of PAC is visibly in doubt (see story on A1), the show will no doubt draw an unusual amount of public attention - but not for long.

“It’s a pop-up show,” Mooney says. “Only two weeks. So it’s going to pop in, then pop away again.”

“Warren’s Eye: Paintings from the Vintage Bank” is, as the title suggests, a sample of works that have been on display inside downtown Petaluma’s Vintage Bank Antiques, with a few others from the private collection of Warren and Judith Davis, who’ve operated the sprawling antique emporium at the corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Western Street for over two decades. Warren Davis passed away in January of this year, after which Mooney - a friend of the Davis family - devised the installation as a way of honoring Davis’ love of art and his proven knack for collecting.

Mooney glances around the gallery, where approximately 25 (of a total 80 paintings) have already been hung. On one wall is a cluster of portraits, all by different artists, depicting a remarkably diverse array of faces. On the floor nearby, carefully laid out on crisp layers of white paper, are a number of “nocturnes,” paintings with unifying theme of nighttime and darkness. Throughout the gallery are other such groupings, thoughtfully arranged to demonstrate a vivid variety of subjects, styles and artistic points of view.

“The idea was to bring attention to Warren’s extraordinary skill at collecting, and to honor his life’s passion, which was art,” Mooney says. “Warren was a lovely man, and a very knowledgeable collector. People would go into Vintage Bank Antiques just to talk with him about art. He was always there chatting with people. He had a warm, humble demeanor that attracted so many people to the place. Not only could they see all of this amazing art, they could talk about it with someone who really knew what was special about every piece.”

Choosing just 80 paintings from among the hundreds and hundreds in the bank was no small challenge, Mooney points out.

“There were lots of pieces that were tucked away in corners of the bank,” she says. “We had to really poke around and explore, get down behind things, to find the ones we wanted to showcase.”

Mooney walks over to a large, especially dynamic painting by Norman Stiegelmeyer, an American surrealist who passed away in 1984.

“This is one of the crown jewels of the exhibit,” allows Mooney. “Amazing, right? It’s called ‘Woman,’ but at first you don’t see the woman. Then, the more you look at it, the more you see the shape of her emerge. Once you see it, it’s wildly sexual, and so beautiful. On the label, Warren described it as a ‘Nouveau nude,’ maybe because it echoes some of the classic art nouveau shapes. I’m not sure. Warren came up with that.”

The painting was in a huge alcove at Vintage Bank, only visible as you go down the stairs on the right.

“We had to climb out onto a ledge to get to it,” Mooney says, eyes wide at the memory of the experience. “We were like tightrope walkers,” she laughs. “But we really wanted this one in the show, so we did what we had to do.”

Mooney adds that the exhibit, as she’s arranged it, is designed to demonstrate the beauty of these works when placed into a different context than inside Vintage Bank.

“We wanted to take certain pieces and show how special they are,” Mooney says. “When you put them on a freshly painted white wall, with gallery lighting, in an ‘exhibition environment,’ they just come to life in a whole new way, don’t they?”

(To contact Community Editor David Templeton, write him at david.templeton@arguscourier.com or call 707-776-8462)

PLANNING TO GO?

What: Warren’s Eye: Paintings From The Vintage Bank

When: Saturday, July 21-Saturday, August 4. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Opening night reception Saturday, July 21, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. RSVP at PetalumaArtsCenter.org.

Where: Petaluma Arts Center, 230 Lakeville St., at the SMART Train station.

Information: PetalumaArtsCenter.org.

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