The Buenaventura Art Association will present “The Birds of Bob Privitt: Dreaming of Flying,” an exhibition of his drawings, assemblage and sculpture, in a solo show July 16-Aug. 10 at its downtown Ventura gallery.

Privitt, who lives in Thousand Oaks, taught art at colleges and universities for 40 years before retiring in 2004 from Pepperdine University in Malibu, where he capped 25 years with a two-year stint as artist-in-residence.

In creating his art, Privitt said, he gravitates toward “subjects dealing with the human condition.” He uses some conceptual methods of Dada and Surrealism to explore the psychological balance between “reasonable” and “irrational,” but does not consider himself a Dada or Surrealist artist.

“I am merely an observer of the human condition, with its myths, dreams, future hopes, flights to freedom, and the balance between positive events and negative actions,” he said, hence this show highlighting “birds and the possibility of a flight to freedom.”

Privitt will attend an opening reception 4-7 p.m. July 20 and, ever the teacher, will present a special talk at a 5-8 p.m. reception Aug. 2 during First Fridays Ventura. He’s titled the 6:30 p.m. presentation “Why I Put What I Put Where I Put It, or ‘Bob! What Were You Thinkin’?’ ” and said that, “Using examples of work in the exhibition, I will show how to develop an understanding of an artwork through the process of analytical deconstruction.

“I’m interested in the juxtaposition of disparate elements to create new meaning,” he said of his intricate and thought-provoking works. “I have long been intrigued by images and shapes which seem to have simple and obvious meanings, but upon further examination prove to have multiple and even contradictory meanings.”

Privitt’s works have been chosen by jury in more than 100 national and regional exhibitions and earned awards in more than a third of them. His drawings and sculptures are in many public collections, including those of several universities and the City of Thousand Oaks. Examples can be found online at mediasquirt.com/privitt.

About two dozen of his artworks will be in “The Birds of Bob Privitt” in the Clauphine Dooley Gallery at the Buenaventura Gallery, 700 E. Santa Clara St. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. For more information about the show or the nonprofit artists’ cooperative Buenaventura Art Association, contact the gallery at 648-1235 or visit www.buenaventuragallery.org.