Audra Weaser: Sea Memories

Billis Williams Gallery is pleased to present Audra Weaser: Sea Memories, the gallery’s fifth solo exhibition of paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist. This new body of work continues Weaser's meditative studies of light and natural landscapes.  Sea Memories will be on view at the gallery through November 11th.

Bodies of water in an abstracted or reflected state have always been an inspiration for Audra Weaser.  From vast oceans to rapid streams to rising tides, the constant state of flux that water exists in is a metaphor for life.  In her paintings, Weaser seeks to capture the memory of a fleeting moment.  

With the paintings in her current exhibition, Weaser invokes a range of emotions associated with the sea as a subject: vast, calming, awe inspiring. Her process starts with a loose, intuitive composition over which she applies multiple layers of color that are ultimately obscured with a veil of white paint. Then, through a physically intense sanding process, the initial composition reemerges with an almost sculptural depth. From there, Weaser often blends in metallics to give the illusion of a shimmering surface that evokes the play of light on water.

This process also involves a level of trust in the unknown - trust that she will discover something that resonates just below the surface.  Weaser has spent years refining her technique and brings an expertise to the process - this balanced with the element of chance create a striking tension in the immersive compositions.  Ultimately,  these paintings are intended to allow the viewer to dive into their own memories - to find a sense of calm and wonder.

Audra Weaser (b. Fullerton, CA) is an American painter and sculptor living in Los Angeles, CA. She earned her B.F.A. from Laguna College of Art and Design and her M.F.A in painting from Claremont Graduate University. Since then, she has exhibited extensively and her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the world—from New York and San Francisco to Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.