Mari Eastman

Mary Eastman is one of the 45 contemporary artists featured in the California Biennial going on now at the OCMA. The California Biennial brings together a large cross-section of the State’s most innovative contemporary visual artists, and after doing a walk-through last Wednesday night, I chose Mari Eastman's works to be among my favorites.

There is just something about the women's faces that Eastman paints, and the colors she uses that is really interesting to me. Another thing I love is that in many of her pieces she uses the unexpected element of glitter, lightly sprinkled over the painting. It gives the illusion that the painting is suppose to be glamours in a cool and contrived 80's sort of way, but at the same time the faces are asymmetrical and have a lot of abstract qualities, which actually give the pieces a lot of depth. That's the best way I know how to describe it, but I do know that I love her style.





Below is a textile that she painted that isn't at the Biennial, but I found online at the Cherry and Martin gallery webpage. I think she should mass produce this so that I can turn it into throw pillows. It's pretty fantastic.