Buenaventura Art Association announces a “Call for Entries” for their 26th Annual Open Competition at the Buenaventura Gallery. The exhibit will run from January 10 – January 28 with the bring-in for the artists on Sunday, Jan. 8 and Monday, January 9 from 11 am – 2 pm. The awards ceremony (with over $1,000 in prizes awarded) will be on Saturday, Jan. 14 from 4 – 7 pm. Gary Lang, an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University, will be the juror.

Gary Lang, in addition to teaching at Claremont, has taught at Columbia, Yale University, UCLA, School of Visual Arts in NYC among others. As an educator, he wanted the students to “feel the power within themselves” to create. He is a contemporary painter with a respect for all art forms. Says Lang, “It’s not the subject…it’s how the artist interacts with the surface…it’s more than talent…it’s the artist being present in the moment.”
Throughout his long career, Lang has always meditated on painting and techniques. Whether he is creating a painting, “painting” a flower garden, or a few years ago, creating a video piece based on the process of painting which ends with layer upon layer of color, the same way Lang paints, his final word is always on the painting process.

“My painting process is a vehicle for crossing the threshold. Simply put it is a spiritual adventure that employs discipline and savors changeability. The wellspring source of the work is a mutating truth, which is what I nurture and what I am.”

The paintings define infinity in their own terms, and are visual odysseys that both welcome and hold the viewer in epic time and space. The painted object is a vehicle for transforming the moment, the power of which is unleashed in its presence.

Lang has a MFA from Yale University and received his BFA from California Institute of the Arts. He also studied at Chouinard Art Institute. He’s won numerous awards and grants including the Fulbright/Hayes Travel Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art Studio grant and more.

He’s had solo exhibitions throughout the United States, France, Austria, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and more. He’s been reviewed in Art Week, Art Scene, Conde Nast Traveler, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and various international magazines and newspapers. Buenaventura Art Association is truly honored to have an artist of Lang’s caliber as our juror.

The Buenaventura Gallery is located at 700 E Santa Clara St. in downtown Ventura. Hours are Tuesday – Friday from noon – 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. For more information and entry form, visit their website at www.BuenaventuraGallery.org.