Exhibit Title: "From the Figure: Works on Canvas by Renee Harwin" Date: October 1 through November 5 Where: C.N. Gorman Museum 1316 Hart Hall University of California, Davis Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and by appointment Artist Reception: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, October 9 Artist: Renee Harwin "From the Figure: Works on Canvas by Renee Harwin" at the C.N. Gorman Museum will feature large, acrylic figurative works on canvas by the Viennese-born artist Harwin. Harwin's figures are gestural, reflective of human design and set within an environment of patterns suggestive of clouds and sky. She comes to the figure through years of hard-edge painting. Her work combines the influence of Midwest painters such as Clyfford Still and San Francisco Art Institute instructor Jack Jefferson with the early influences of Viennese culture and art. Harwin attributes much of her visual language to her architect father and to modern architecture. As a young Viennese woman, Harwin found her artistic development interrupted by Hitler's arrival to her city. Soon after, Renee and her family left and moved to the United States. Harwin says that while "one can drawn his or her own conclusions from my work, I believe that the tremendous impact of change from Nazism to free America has left deep impressions on me that are played out on these canvases." ARTWEEK critic Mark Van Proyen recently reviewed Harwin's figurative work and said, "Frontal figures of a generalized type confront the viewer in Renee Harwin's series of large acrylic paintings, some of which feature groups in social ritual positions (i.e., "The Party" or "The Audience") while others are solitary faces that loom from the picture plane. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the work is the way in which the artist portrays skin as a composite of many colors and shapes, creating a rich and visually rewarding topography that encases the self." Harwin is a Marin County resident and recently was featured in the Claudia Chaplin Gallery's "Introductions '93." Harwin received her M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute.