Art with a hard edge

Mike Sciacca

The Huntington Beach Art Center will show its hard edge Saturday when

it debuts a dual contemporary exhibition in its main galleries.

The exhibit, “(Un)Taped,” will feature the works of artists Karl

Benjamin and Mark L. Emerson, each known on an international scale

for their hard-edge painting.

Adjacent to the main galleries in The Art in Store Project Room

Series will be an exhibit featuring the paintings of Thomas Pathe.

The paintings of the three artists will be housed at the art

center Saturday through Nov. 8.

Benjamin and Emerson are schedule to attend Saturday’s opening.

For Benjamin, a resident of Southern California, the exhibit in

Surf City, he said, allows his work to become known on the local art

scene.

“I understand the Huntington Beach Art Center is a very good

gallery and puts on good shows,” said the 76-year-old, who was a

painter for the past 50 years but is no longer painting. “Having a

good space to have your work put on exhibit is very important and I’m

glad to share this exhibition with Mark.”

The main exhibition will display 12 works by Benjamin, paintings

that were completed between 1979 and 1980, and eight new offerings by

Emerson.

It is the first time their works will be exhibited together.

“To get to show 12 pieces of work by one artist in one exhibition

is incredible,” said Darlene DeAngelo, curator of

exhibitions/programs at the art center. “This exhibit is special in a

lot of ways and to have Karl trust me enough to get 12 of his

paintings, well, that in itself is truly special. He’s always trusted

my eyes.

“What I really wanted to get across with this contemporary

exhibition is to show what happened early in the hard edge painting

movement and where it is heading.”

Hard edge painting focuses on line and color and Benjamin had the

name “hard edge” painter attached to him by an art critic when his

work was part of a 1959 four-West Coast painters exhibit at the Los

Angeles County Museum of Art and San Francisco Museum of Art.

His work is included in numerous major museums and private

collections in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Emerson, who has been influenced by Benjamin, paints layers upon

layers, so much so, DeAngelo said, that he sometimes “obliterates the

color he began with.”

“But with Karl, he’s about pure color or specific shape,” she

said. “He puts color next to color and that creates a new color

visual.”

Benjamin’s 6-foot-by-4-foot oil on canvas paintings to be featured

at the art center have never been exhibited in Southern California.

His paintings contain thin, vertical stripes of color and hues

ranging from subtle, to brilliant.

Emerson, a professor or painting at California State University,

Sacramento, has had several solo exhibitions and his work is included

in numerous private and public collections.

His eight new paintings, done specifically for the Huntington

Beach Art Center exhibition, are composed of vertical, horizontal and

diagonal stripes -- each within a single painting.

His large, polymer on panel paintings measure 6-foot-by-6-foot.

Pathe’s monochromatic paintings have soft, fuzzy edges, DeAngelo

said, consisting of multiple layers of a singular color overlapped

several times between coats of varnish.

“There’s something here at this exhibit for everybody and although

each artist is different, their works compliment each other,”

DeAngelo said. “We’ve been putting this exhibit together for the past

year and we’re excited to have it finally here.”