Yuri Padal's large abstract impressionist works are just that: a retinal feast. We are often reminded by nutritionists, health experts and questionable agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration that human bodies require a daily dose of various minerals, vitamins, micro-nutrients and proteins in order to build and maintain the same. Upon reflection, it becomes evident that there are many other requirements of our human body. We have emotive responses to our surroundings: our intellect is refined or dumbed down depending on what we read, and our spirit, that impalpable but ever-present aspect of our being, glows or fades in varying degrees accordingly as well.
Yuri Padal has an impressive body of work hanging at the Art Garden that feeds the spirit. This tiny storefront located on East Hastings made Art History magazine September 18th which covered its inaugural opening. The place was packed. All evening, critics, collectors, artists and just plain folk craving their daily dose of color wandered in and out of the storefront gallery. Owners Alka and Damien Murphy were dressed for success, proving that to be elegantly decked out, although not de rigeur, is certainly possible on the East Side. As a matter of fact, there is an amazing vintage clothing shop a proverbial stone's throw away, so for those of you who require a little glitz and glamour, you can throw something really cool around your shoulders and sashay on down.
This gem of a gallery and storefront is happily ensconced on a tight segment of East Hastings that houses The Laughing Bean Café (coffee, community and Spanish), the Rondel diner (food like you haven't tasted since the forties: homemade cranberry jam, golden-yellow fresh free-range eggs: you get the picture), and Frenchie's, a fifty's style diner featuring fabulous fries and an art gallery in the basement to boot!
Upon entering the Art Garden, directly on the left hangs composition #137. This is 40 inches by 60 inches of lovely colored triangles, applied spatula style. The thick paint unfolds in hues of pink, yellow, peach, saffron, orange, rose, maroon, cinnamon, charcoal black, and wine. The whole composition is lifted upwards by a discreet application of white. It is hung with care, its presence framed and accentuated by two pink and vermillion anthuriums (only $18 each), and one maroon guzmania, whose name is as fabulous as the plant, according to Aka.
Amsterdam, an oil-on-canvas piece sold at once (well done!). It hangs vertically at 24 inches by 36 inches. Teeming with colorful brushstrokes that pull the eye upwards, you can get your daily dose of maroon, yellow, hints of bronze and apple green. If it was me, I'd hang it up in my kitchen so that I could get my daily retinal feast first thing in the morning.
Another eye-popper is Atlantic Ocean—two square feet of awesomeness. I noticed this one at once because it sports such a thick application of glossy resin atop the impasto color brushstrokes that they look like pieces of multicolored glass imbedded in the canvas. They have a clear quality to them, and forest green, canary yellow, vermillion, and tangerine hit a sea of multicolored flowing and marbled brushstrokes: unmistakably, the water of the Atlantic Ocean. If I could have taken it home with me, I would have. It was frankly more attractive to me than many of the men who want to take me home with them and would probably provide more comfort in the dark and dreary days of the westcoast winterscape now upon us.
What works exceedingly well in Padal Works are the oversized larger-than-life Universe, at seventy-one inches by sixty-two inches, which I intend to buy when I become very wealthy, and Red October #17 (63” by 67”), which has my daughter written all over it. These two pieces have their own private digs within the Art Garden's walls and it serves them well.
We are seduced, enticed into viewing Universe, a monumental work in blues, aquamarine, charcoal, sleet, black, ultramarine, amethyst, and too many other colors to enumerate them all. The overriding palette is blue. Very blue. The entire visual panorama is flecked with silver and gold leaf and drips with resinous gloss, applied irreverently and casually so that it leads one to think that the whole universe is coated in cosmic tears. The celestial beings weep, covering our universe. The blues ain't called the blues for nothing and even cowgirls get the blues.
Einstein explained, along with his theory of relativity, and his (albeit unintentionally) horrendous contribution to the possible annihilation of our beautiful, fragile planet via the splitting of atomic particles and nuclear fission, that every action has an opposite re-action. It is the ebb and flow of things, events, and circumstances. The yin and yang of energies, the cosmic dance. In this framework, Red October #17 is the vibrant, warm, positive antidote in Padal Works.( And Padal works. Hard. It shows.)
Walking into the final chamber at the Art Garden, we find hanging a fantastic painting. Red, ochre, vermillion, tangerine, almandine, mustard, rose and peach coalesce on the canvas, flecked with gold and silver leaf. The entire feeling is warm, sunny and comforting. Mother Nature's summer winds caress you. This exquisite piece is framed on the left by a row of lovely saris and polyester-blended pieces available for only $15. They hang and sway like the veil of samsara, asking us to investigate further.
On that note, I encourage you to do so. Owner Damien Murphy suggested to me that the East Side Culture Crawl should consider extending itself east of Commercial Drive, explaining that The ARC building is an arbitrary line that belies the artistic activity further to its left. Historically, it is the east side of town (even in New York City) that houses the main body of up-and-coming artists.
Come and feast on great food and devour your daily dose of color. Step up to the culture plate, and venture east. But do not attempt this sojourn on Sundays—the storefront is, sadly, closed. Ciao!
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