Ric Ambrose

The complex patchwork of urban elements in my immediate surroundings holds tremendous fascination for me.  I am particularly struck by the ironies and paradoxes found in humanities’ micro and macro world that surrounds us.  My tableau drawings are a compilation of disparate images stitched together and interwoven much like reconstructing a memory or a recollected experiences. To me, a drawing is a more suggestive or evocative form of color. Actual color tends to cloud my perception, seemingly unauthentic.

My large - scale work is drawn from my journeys throughout the Bay Area, immersed in its exotic diversity of urban elements, people, and the paradoxes of human and natural interaction.  The format allows the viewer to experience the whole environment as well as its parts, moving through it visually as if she/he were actually travelling within its confines. This movement establishes a visual paradox -- while one might enjoy digesting the pictorial grandeur (macro) and opulent details (micro) in my work, there is an element of detachment, alienation and/or entrapment.

Using the most basic tools - - pencil and eraser - - allows me to recreate a colorless yet colorful world that suggests a timeless sense of my life experiences.