Ezra Bejar
Ezra Bejar
San Diego, CA, United States
About Ezra Bejar
Ezra Bejar (EB) is a PPT (Plants, Paint and Technology) artist/scientist. Each artwork is a sensory experiment, in randomness and premeditation, resulting in visually enticing, colorful images of nature. Art challenging our notions about esthetics and style. Forms and spaces distilled from nature and a humanly rich mindscape - where art, culture and science coalesce. PPT is a method which gives meaning to his creation. His art has been shown and collected in the United States, Mexico and Europe. ______________________________________ Ezra Bejar (EB) es un artista/cientifico que combina PPT (plantas, pintura y tecnologia). Cada obra es un experimento, en azar y premeditacion, con imágenes visualmente atractivas retando ideas de formas y espacios. Un rico paisaje humano extraido de una mente donde el arte, la cultura y la ciencia coalescen. Su metodo le da vida permanente a su creación. Sus obras han sido exhibidas y coleccionadas en Estados Unidos, México y Europa. ______________________________________ ARTIST STATEMENT Where are you from? I am from Mexico City, but live in California. What triggers your interest in art? As a child, I had independence and space to explore science and art. My parents gave me freedom to learn so that I asked if I could set up a lab. I drew, colored and explored invertebrate anatomy and behavior. I also made chemical concoctions. Each day I was inspired by my curiosity and family's love and kindness. A world of colors arose from the lab and my father's art gallery. I thought every kid was doing the same. Where did you study? As an adult, after exploring music and mechanics, I pursued a long and regimented academic science training. I have a PhD, so that I ended up doing scientific research. That training got me paid and gave me an structure and discipline to create. I am mostly self taught in the arts, but I had many lessons from artists in the US and Mexico. What is every day like? I focus my artistic energy with a method. There are variations to it, but generally consists of blending technology, nature, art and instinct. From my home in Mexico I recall images of the "Masters" I sketch ideas and plan the experiments needed. Media, concepts, paint and texture fuse in order to communicate an emotion and a memory. Why art now? Is a way to keep memory and emotions which makes me happy. Is a place more often of joy, back in time and space. Each art work expresses who I am, giving meaning to my life. When did you start? A passion for creating art re-ignited in 2010 on a period of down time after an eye problem. This visual change led to deep introspection and healing; searching for a wider bandwidth to communicate original artistic ideas. I felt very inspired by nature. Ideas touched up on my personal journey, savoring my child's fortunes growing up in a big, cosmopolitan city, with many experiences and friends. Childhood images blended with new abstract images, triggered by personal reflection. Experiencing temporary blindness was an important event. Re-gaining vision equipped me with a rich mindscape, reinforcing method and tools, for story telling, How? I re-contextualize the world, deconstructing the visual space into layers, explore symbols, shadows, light, textures and colors. I find new meaning doing that, understandin life better in that process. What Inspires you? Nature and urban spaces rich in geometric forms serve as perfect substrates for daily artistic expression. Images emerge quickly through my cultural and experiential filter, evolving into compositions with interpretations of spaces and basic structures. I rarely use a reference picture when I paint. Instead I try to reproduce what I see in my head and how I "feel" about it. It is all in my own mindscape and journey. I think when an artist is self aware and uses personal tools of reflection and self-discovery, becomes very original. Rabindranath Tagore said: "In Art, man reveal himself and not his objects. Art is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the real. ”
Education:
- Self taught artist
- Independent art studies, painting and multimedia, school of arts and design, SDSU
- Influencers: Henri Rousseau, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, Simon Hantai, Romare Bearden, Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo.
- Trained as a scientist (Ph.D. Pharmacology)
- Member, San Diego Art Institute
- Member, Long Beach Art Council
Events:
Vote 4 Art App, Switzerland. "South View," 1st place winner of cash prize, May 2017,
Artist of the Day, Saatchi Art Online, April 5, 2016.
ON LINE sketches and ideas posted weekly on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/ezra.bejar/
Exhibitions:
Collective Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, C-Note, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, November 8-11,
2018.
Collective Exhibition, San Diego State University, School of Arts and Design, San Diego, October 30- November 13, 2018.
Collective Exhibition Lucid Impulses,San Diego State University, San Diego, October 4-30, 2018.
Collective Exhibition, Artbox Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, September 1-30, 2018.
Collective Exhibition, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, August 4-18, 2018
Collective Exhibition, San Diego State University, April 23-May 1, 2018
Collective Exhibition, "South View" and "Modernite" in New York 1.0. ARTBOX PROJECT at the Armory Art Weeks in New York, March 5-17, 2018.
Collective Exhibition, Artbox, Switzerland, Participating with "Afflatus" at the Euroairport, Swiss side, Event platform Luminator. June 14-18, 2017 part of the Basel Art Weeks.
Vote4Art, Art Application by Ideenmeisterei GMBH General-Guisan-Strasse 6, 6300 Zug, Switzerland, October 15 2016 - May 15, 2017. "South View," "Otra Arboleda" "Afflatus," "An Unusual Day," "Ocean," "Dream," "Alegria," and "Atemoztli"
Artbox.Project Miami at Spectrum, Artweeks in Miami, FL, Nov 30 - Dec Dec 4 2016. Booth 211, 1700 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33132. Participating with: "Alegria" at the Collective Exhibition Artbox.Project Miami 1.0.
Collective Exhibition, Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA)- Artist Alliance, North Coast Repertory Theater, Solana Beach, CA during the West Coast Premiere of Way Downriver; William Faulkner's "Old Man," from April 13–May 8, 2016. Play adapted by Edward Morgan and directed by David Ellenstein. Participant with "Rain is Coming Down," 2016.
Collective Exhibition, Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA)- Artist Alliance, North Coast Repertory Theater, Solana Beach, CA During the U.S. Premiere of George Feydeu's "Now You See It" translated by Kenneth McLeish and Directed by Bruce Turk. Participating with: "Camellia and RetinART" 2016.
Artist of the Day, Saatchi Art- April 5, 2016, Saatchi Art
Latin American Art Festival, NTC Liberty Station, San Diego, CA 2016."Mexico Paintings and Digital Collages,"
Collective Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, "Green Tapestries and Pansies" 2015,
Solo Exhibition, Long Beach City Hall, Long Beach, CA, "Camellia and Kelp Life" 2014,
Solo Exhibition, "Impressions from the Right Angle" 2014, Long Beach Public Library, Long Beach, CA,
Solo Exhibition, "Ocean and Signals in Long Beach" 2014, Long Beach Public Library, Long Beach, CA
Solo Exhibition, Green Bliss Cafe,
"RetinART," 2013, Fullerton, CA,