Artist Bob Privitt will be giving a special presentation titled “Why I Put What I Put Where I Put It, or ‘Bob! What Were You Thinkin’?’ ” on Friday, August 2nd, 6:30pm, at the Buenaventura Gallery in Ventura. One in a series of artist talks presented by the Buenaventura Art Association this year, the talk will take place during First Fridays Ventura Gallery Crawl.

Privitt, whose solo show “The Birds of Bob Privitt: Dreaming of Flying,” will be on exhibit at the downtown Ventura gallery at the time of the talk, is a Professor Emeritus from Pepperdine University in Malibu. He taught art at colleges and universities for 40 years before retiring from Pepperdine in 2004, where he capped 25 years with a two-year stint as artist-in-residence.

Privitt's ever-present sense of humor is evident in the title of his talk. He acknowledges that people are often mystified by the style of art he often works in, assemblage, which is a form of sculpture using "found" objects. “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.”

Admission to the talk is free. The Buenaventura Gallery is located at 700 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura. 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.