Bender Gallery is excited to present a solo exhibition, featuring the vividly colorful and stunning hard-edge geometric works of San Francisco Bay artist Angela Johal.  Johal’s work vibrates off the canvas with positive energy; influenced, no doubt, by her childhood growing up in the Bay area during the 1960s and 70s surrounded by the geometric op art, psychedelic art and music from that era.  She describes her work as Neo Psychedelia and “chromesthetic” as her intuitive approach to color theory is generated by the music she paints to.  Johal’s exhibition opens on April 1 and runs through April 22.  An opening reception for Johal will be held at the gallery on Saturday, April 1 from 5-8 pm.

Johal is a passionate disciple of the hard-edge geometric and Color Field painters of the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Her meticulous work is informed by artists such as Ellsworth Kelley, Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland and Bridget Riley.  The pure abstraction of color and geometric shapes are “honest”, with no external references or allusions, just the pristine smoothness of the surface and vivid hues. The clearly defined flat forms in Johal’s paintings appear rhythmic, hypnotic, and infinite, and often have a 3-D effect.  Johal explains, “I use geometric shapes because they are understood by people of all ages, races, nationalities and cultures and I like my paintings to be easily understood and complicated at the same time."

Music is an integral component of Johal’s process in creating her work.  In fact, she is unable to paint without it.  She selects the music for each painting and lets the music determine which colors she paints on the canvas.  She explains that her works are created in accompaniment to music where both together react directly upon the emotions, where there is a “chromesthetic” blending of the senses. In fact, many of her paintings are titled after musical terminology.

Johal’s process is part painstaking and part intuitive.  She begins by arranging cut out shapes or creating sketches of the overall composition, which is of utmost importance, balanced and full of energy.  She then transfers the design onto a sanded canvas using tape, templates, or other tools to achieve a clean hard edge.  Now the music begins.  Using high quality acrylic paints, Johal spontaneously applies color to the canvas, letting the music guide her choices.  Her understanding of Color Theory is instinctive yet effective and, along with her forms, creates a kind of dance on the surface.

Angela Johal (b. 1962), US, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from San Jose State University in San Jose, CA.  Johal has taken part in solo and group exhibitions in prestigious institutes such as de Young Museum, San Francisco, SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, San Francisco and in art galleries in LA, Boston, NY, Montreal, and more.