UTSA presents exhibit of art created from aluminum and poured enamels

Top photo: "First Light," acrylic, enamel and resin on aluminum, 2011
Middle photo: "From Here On Out," varnished aluminum, 2011
Bottom photo: Eric Breish in his Defy Art Studio

By Tim Brownlee
Associate Director of Internal Communications

(Feb. 21, 2012) -- The University of Texas at San Antonio will present the exhibit, "Eric Breish: Dimensions," through April 27 at the UTSA Downtown Gallery in Durango Building Room 1.122 on the Downtown Campus. Breish's works utilize scored, sanded aluminum plates coated with brightly colored randomly poured enamels.

>> An opening reception hosted by UTSA President Ricardo Romo and Dr. Harriett Romo is 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23. Regular gallery hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

According to the exhibit curator, Rebecca Gomez '11, who recently completed a UTSA master's degree in art history, Breish experiments with various artistic techniques from sanding metal plates that create optical illusions to pouring enamels that brightly reveal random patterns on their surfaces. "His works challenge the viewer to explore the different dimensions that reveal themselves through his calculated planning and the uncontrollable results," said Gomez.

Breish was born in 1978 in San Diego, Calif. He earned a B.S. degree in entertainment business from Full Sail University (2005), before turning completely to the world of art in 2008, when he studied under the well-known metal artist Andres Nottenbom. He has exhibited in San Antonio at David Shelton Gallery and Ranger Creek Brewery (2011) and in Houston at Sculpture by Design and New Gallery (2010). In 2010, Breish was commissioned by Energy Transfer to capture their company logo in metal.

"My work spawns from the subconscious, originating from a conceptual idea that evolves into its own creation as the piece progresses," said Breish. "There is often an underlying meaning, which is not always apparent and rather indirect in its representation, requiring the viewer to make the correlation through independent interpretation."

As a planned part of the creative process, the artist scores aluminum plates to create mesmerizing fields of light that shift as the viewer moves. "The other half of my work is brightly colored concoctions I call pours, which allow me to escape the rigid world of grinding metal and become spontaneous with a variety of liquid mediums," he said.

For more information, contact Arturo Almeida, curator of the UTSA Art Collection, at 210-458-4983. Like us on Facebook.