The Art of Merl Ross and Eileen Starr Moderbacher
October – December 2023
As we make our way through the world, we collect mental souvenirs in the form of images, senses, and memories. We internalize these recollections and make them part of our story, representing our journey through time and space, a journey of emotional connection.
Bay Area artists Merl Ross and Eileen Starr Moderbacher explore the inner passages of perception, painting the world they’ve traveled as it feels to them rather than within the confines of representation. With bold colors and fluid movements, they conjure landscapes and moments that traverse the space between what is seen and what is felt. While highly personal, their paintings are universal and recognizable to anyone who has ever seen a landscape unfold into a puzzle of shapes or a pile of wind-blown leaves breaking like a wave.
We welcome these artists to our office gallery from October to December 2023. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please call 510.528.5820 to reserve a time to visit.
Exhibit Gallery
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Untethered
Acrylic on paper/panel
24″ x 24″
$1,800
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Shindig
Acrylic on paper/panel
24″ x 24″
$1,800
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Dragon Eye
Acrylic on paper/panel
24″ x 24″
$1,800
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Seeds of the Earth
Acrylic on paper/panel
36″ x 48″
$4,000
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Seeds of the Sea
Acrylic on paper/panel
36″ x 48″
$4,000
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Seeds of the Sky
Acrylic on paper/panel
36″ x 48″
$4,000
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Seeds of the Time
Acrylic on paper/panel
36″ x 36″
$3,600
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Better Be
Acrylic on panel
30″ x 30″
$2,200
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Tide Pool
Acrylic on paper/panel
14″ x 18″
$1,000
Merl Ross
Point Lobos
Acrylic on canvas,
14” x 14”
Merl Ross
Unraveling the Spiral
Mixed media on canvas,
36” x 36”
Merl Ross
The Harvest
Mixed media on canvas over board,
18” x 18”
Merl Ross
Ferry’s Wake
Mixed media on canvas,
36” x 48”
Merl Ross
Porto Ercole
Acrylic on canvas,
36” x 48”
Merl Ross
Recollections
Mixed media on canvas,
36” x 48”
Merl Ross
Springtime
Acrylic on canvas,
36” x 48”
Merl Ross
Botanical Tributaries
Mixed media on canvas,
48”x 30”
Merl Ross
Ocean View
Mixed media on canvas,
20” x 16” framed
Merl Ross
Merl Ross is an abstract artist born and raised in San Francisco, CA, and currently living and working in Berkeley, CA. She studied Design at UCLA and received her BA and MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of California, Berkeley. Her work is widely collected throughout the United States and abroad.
Merl received the Juror’s Award of Merit from the Berkeley Art Center National Juried Exhibition, Silver Discovery Award from Art of California magazine, and the Maybelle Toombs Award in Art from UC Berkeley. In 2020, two of her paintings were selected for inclusion in the de Young Museum Juried Open Exhibition.
Since 2001, Merl has taught Intermediate/Advanced Painting at the California College of the Arts Extension Program. Previously, she was a lecturer at UC Berkeley in the Department of Art Practice, teaching painting and drawing. She also taught painting as well as color and design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Artist Statement
My art lives where memory and experience of places – both real and imagined – intersect. The need to untangle and express the less knowable aspects of one’s imagination has long been central to my approach. My paintings are also explorations into fields of color, lyrical forms often inspired by music as well as the ambiguity of spatial relationships that I have discovered in the topography of place. When painting, I am inventing another world that has no morning or midnight, no beginning or end; instead, I try to capture a suspended moment in time. Ideally, the images act with the unexpected quality of syncopated rhythm, accenting a beat normally unaccented.
The process for creating my work is stimulated by that moment when the act of painting can trigger the unexpected. It is this heightened anticipation that continually fuels my passion for painting. Ultimately, I strive to create an atmosphere in my work that is filled with the mystery and vestiges of memory that engage the present.
More Information at merlross.com
For purchasing, please email aquamerl@yahoo.com
Instagram: @merl_ross_art
Eileen Starr Moderbacher
Eileen Starr Moderbacher knew early on that she wanted to be an artist. Born the second twin in a family of four daughters to a middle-class Jewish family, she was encouraged by her mom to be strong and independent. She was college-aged in the 60s, and like so many others of her generation, she wanted to break out of her small, protected world. This led her to earning a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, with a major in printmaking. Her college years coincided with the Vietnam War, and she made protest posters for the antiwar movement, becoming a leftist involved in the women’s liberation movement.
Her radical trajectory led her to her husband, a political émigré from Austria and to an MFA program at SFSU. But school took a backseat to community action, and she began working with La Raza Silkscreen Center, FITS Printing and People’s Press, producing posters and leftist material for community groups. Her life changed course when she moved to Austria where her husband was a teacher and she put aside art to work as a graphic designer. After 16 years, they returned to California in 1995. She began to paint again, reigniting her desire to pursue art.
In 2004, Eileen earned an MFA from California College of Arts, and she hasn’t looked back since. She has shown her work extensively for the past 20 years and although her style has evolved, the paintings still carry her rich personal history.
Artist Statement
I love color! Light and dark, vibrant or dull, subtle or harsh – I love it all! The exuberance of working with luscious color palettes drives me wild.
My process involves merging inspiration with emotion to create original works that resonate with people. When I see a captivating artwork or even an intricate pattern on a simple piece of fabric, I am flooded with fresh ideas and a new artistic vision. I use this “aha moment” to create a unique color palette, which I then take to the canvas.
The movement and composition of the painting change and unravel dramatically as I add new elements and eliminate others. The painting and I are in deep dialogue. This intrinsic dialogue allows me to decipher the essence of each piece and create works that pull the viewer into the world of color that I love so much and makes life so much more vibrant for us all.
For more information visit artisteileen.com
For purchasing, please email esmoder@gmail.com
Instagram: @eileenstarrmoderbacher