Santa Barbara’s Tamsen Gallery will burst with color this month as artist Komatis unveils his collection of figurative and plein air landscape expressionist pieces. His work features bold colors and dynamic geometric shapes, and the show is called AGRIOS, which means “wild” in Greek, drawing inspiration from the early 1900s “fauve” art movement.
British-born painter Gerald Comati, who goes by Komatis in his art, uses a plein air approach, where he decides on a location, “which has generally been predicated on the presence of some interesting and significant trees, plus clear layers of form and shape.” He then takes about five hours to start to paint the bigger shapes and establish colors, and then goes back to the studio to clean things up.
After living in Santa Barbara for the past 25 years, being able to share his work with the community through this show has been rewarding for Komatis. “I believe figurative painting touches the soul, consciously and unconsciously. As humans, we are drawn to the image of other humans. The question I often ask myself is: What triggers someone to acquire, or not, a figurative painting? Certainly, the history of art is dominated by figurative works, and perhaps in recent years, this interest is becoming strong again. It may mean a step outside one’s comfort zone, but I don’t think it’s a big step. I’d like to think that people who purchase a figurative painting will be pleasantly surprised at how much joy and interest the piece will continue to provide, once in their home.”
Komatis started his study of fine arts in England, then moved to the U.S. to study engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University, but he felt the sensation of leading “parallel lives” with the two disciplines. “I do sometimes wonder how things would have evolved if I had instead gone to art school,” he said.
“That said, I suspect the study and practice of engineering has informed my work, in the way my mind processes shape, geometry, and color.”
Komatis said his parents were art collectors, and that every weekend, he accompanied his father to the auction houses. “By the time I got to the U.S., I had captured, perhaps unknowingly, a broad appreciation of both contemporary and classic visual art. In the U.S., once I got to the West Coast, I was fascinated by many artists that I had had little exposure to previously, especially the Bay Area Group, Diebenkorn, Parks, etc. and the hugely influential New York artist of the 1950s.” Other inspirations Komatis mentioned include Francis Bacon, Leon Kossoff, RB Kitaj, and Mark Rothko.
The show also features ceramics by Heather Rosenman, whose self-described goal is to “create artifacts that combine a primitive aesthetic with modern sensibilities.”
Komatis’s AGRIOS show will be on view through the month of August at the Tamsen Gallery (1309 State St.). See komatisart.com and tamsengallery.com for more information.
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