Imaginary Biographical Dialogues and Bifurcated Narratives
by Emanuela I. Harris Sintamarian
Tendergold Gallery, International Art Museum of America
On display: April 25th – May 25th, 2025
Reception: May 10th from 3 – 6 PM
About Imaginary Biographical Dialogues and Bifurcated Narratives:
Sometimes, much of contemporary life is wrapped in the poetry of melancholy, loneliness, and absurdity. My work does not aim to document reality but to distort, subvert, and reimagine it—echoing my impulses, desires, and thoughts while amplifying these inherent contradictions. As an artist I am interested in choices: what remains to be seen, what is absent and how decisions are made.
Imaginary Biographical Dialogues and Bifurcated Narratives is an ongoing series shaped by my recent trip to Romania, my birth country, where I experienced the unsettling dissonance between past and present, a feeling many immigrants know intimately. The familiar landscapes of my childhood felt both preserved and unrecognizable, caught in the flux of cultural transformation. This series unpacks that tension, reflecting on Romania’s evolving identity and the shifting relationship between memory, place, and belonging.
I weave together art historical references, Romanian folklore, and abstract architectural diagrams, constructing layered, non-linear “collages” that explore the concept of a new social utopia. By merging the structured with the organic, the historical with the speculative, I question how tradition survives, adapts, or dissolves in the face of westernization. The work is visually dense, capturing the interplay between nostalgia and progress, permanence and erasure. It blurs the boundaries between past and future, reality and imagination—creating a space where the fragmented echoes of history coalesce into something both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Emanuela Iuliana Sintamarian is an artist originally from Romania, but currently she lives and works in Oakland, CA.
Her work is informed by the relationship between her identity to her sense of displacement, and the ways she has devised to reconcile those incongruous elements. She is interested in perception, memory and the mechanics of motion, their visual translation, and the dichotomies intrinsic to them. She explores the fluidity and tension generated by contradictions: organized chaos and uncontrolled order, machine-like generated imagery, and imperfections, organized chaos and logical absurd. Ema also tends to adulterate the boundaries between representative and abstract. She leverages marks, colors, shapes, and textures to construct an undefined world, rather than mirror reality.
Ema’s work has been shown in solo and group shows at Sunny Art Center, London, UK; Museum of Contemporary Arts, Constanta, Romania; Museum of Art, Arad, Romania; Triton Museum in Santa Clara, CA; Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA; the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, DE; Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia; Niklas Belenius Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden; Institute of Contemporary Art, CA and Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York, NY.
She was the recipient of the Leigh Weimer Award, (2021), the Artist Award SVCreates, San Jose, CA (2020), the Golden Foundation Fellowship, Golden Foundation, New Berlin, NY (2018), the Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, CA (2013), ArtShift Award (2008) and the Silicon Valley Arts Council Award (2010). She is the finalist for the Sunny Art Award (2021), and has been nominated for SECA-SFMOMA-History Art Award, SF, CA.
Ema received her first MFA in printmaking from University of Delaware, and her second MFA in painting from San Jose State University. She is a Professor Associated at San Jose City College.
See more of her past projects and read more about Ema here at emahsin.com
We are thrilled to announce that, due to the overwhelming interest from visitors, the museum has decided to extend the exhibition “THE BOOK OF CHANGES” for an additional three months, until mid-April 2025!
“The Book of Changes,” an exhibition showcasing new artworks by abstract artist Georgii Uvs at the International Art Museum of America in San Francisco.
The “Book of Changes” series was conceived during the tumultuous period of 2020-2022, a time of significant global transformation that affected every culture and nation, regardless of race, belief, or political stance. Through his introspective approach to painting, Georgii encapsulates the deep emotional and spiritual core of contemporary existence. His intention is to illustrate the psychological landscape that resonates universally.
The theme of transformation is particularly relevant today, as we witness profound changes in the paths of numerous civilizations. In his monochromatic series, “Book of Changes,” Uvs serves as a chronicler of his era, immortalizing this concept. The series draws inspiration from the ancient philosophical work “Book of Changes,” believed to date back to around 700 BC. This text, revered as one of the oldest and most respected systems of divination worldwide, has retained its significance through the ages, valued by scholars for its deep wisdom and practical insights.
The timeless appeal of the black-and-white palette has fascinated artists from prehistoric times to the present. By working in this monochromatic space, Uvs removes the distractions of color, allowing him to concentrate solely on abstraction — its energy and essence. In both art photography and painting, Monochromatic works act as potent conduits for emotion and expression. By eliminating color and focusing solely on black and white, Uvs heightens emotional intensity and directs the viewer’s attention to the heart of abstraction.
Confucius once stated, “If I could extend my life, I would dedicate fifty years to studying the Book of Changes. Then, I would make fewer mistakes.” Indeed, the Chinese Book of Changes provides profound insights into the complexities of life, encouraging a wise and philosophical view. It transcends mere divination, serving as a repository of ancient Eastern wisdom expressed through philosophical maxims. Georgii Uvs’s “Book of Changes” stands as a visual homage to these reflections, offering deep insights through the medium of painting and abstraction. Engaging with these artworks can guide viewers toward a path of wisdom, much like reading a book.
Confucius’s cautionary statement, “May you never live in an era of change,” resonates strongly. Yet, according to the Book of Changes, change is the only constant in human existence and nature. To navigate these transitions with grace and wisdom, one can find comfort in the timeless wisdom of the ancients.
Biography
GEORGII UVS
Georgii Uvs, in his artistic practice, grapples with fundamental questions about the origins of life, the planet, humanity, and the essence of being itself — the metaphysics of existence.
Born in 1954, Georgii Uvs began his artistic journey at the age of 17. After earning a degree in Geology, he pursued a second degree in Graphic Arts.
Employing a distinctive ‘live’ painting technique, Uvs pours paint onto unstretched canvases laid horizontally on the studio floor. He manipulates various densities of paint and pigments without ever touching the surface of the canvas. His abstract creations are the result of masterful techniques honed over four decades, with each piece taking 3-4 years to dry. Both timeless and unique, Uvs’s works possess a life of their own, rendering them impossible to replicate.
Uvs explains his use of ultraviolet pigments that create a captivating depth effect when exposed to UV light. Consequently, his artworks reveal dual aspects. Much like nature’s cycles of sunset and sunrise, day and night, elements hidden under ordinary lighting come alive under UV illumination, protecting the viewer while simultaneously inviting deeper engagement.
Uvs’s art embodies a philosophical experience.
ELLEN NASH
Ellen Nash, an esteemed International Art Curator, Producer, and Consultant, brings extensive experience to her projects. With a global perspective, she approaches each endeavor as a profound reflection of reality through the lenses of art history and diverse cultures. Born in Armenia and raised in Russia, she studied at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), earning a Master’s Degree in Art History and currently pursuing a PhD in the field.
Nash has curated art projects across Italy, Switzerland, the UK, Qatar, the UAE, Russia, South Korea, and Armenia. She is a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Armenia and Russia. Recognized for her talent, she received the “Best Emerging Art Curator” award at the Magzoid Art Icons Award 2023 (UAE) and was named Best Art Curator at the Qatar International Art Festival 2023 in Doha.
On Display in Sip Art Gallery from form July 24th to August 20th, 2024.
Louis Tan, born in 1998 in Hsinchu, Taiwan—a coastal city known for its powerful winds and often called the “Windy City”—Louis Tan’s surroundings have deeply influenced his art. His landscapes are not just visual representations but reflections of the townscapes within his soul. Louis has always been captivated by cityscapes. The diverse architecture and unique styles of urban buildings inspire him, and his paintings reveal how his emotions shape his perception of these landscapes. Each piece, with its bold color choices and striking compositions, represents his inner world at a particular moment. By centering his compositions around iconic landmarks, Louis invites viewers to see the city through his eyes, where familiar places transform into modern ruins, imbued with personal emotional resonance. His use of color blocks, precise lines, and layered scenes highlights the allure of urban landscapes, while his exploration of various media adds depth and complexity, mirroring his evolving emotions. Through his art, Louis captures not just the physical essence of a city, but the emotional landscapes that reside within him, offering viewers a glimpse into his unique perspective.
About the Artist:
Louis Tan was born in 1998 and diagnosed with autism at the age of three. His journey has been one of extraordinary talent and determination. Despite facing challenges with verbal communication, Louis has a remarkable memory and an innate gift for the arts. By the age of four, he was already playing the violin and piano, able to transcribe entire pieces of music after just one listening. However, it is through painting that Louis has found his true emotional outlet. In his own words, Louis shares, “I am autistic, yet I experience the same emotions as others. People think I don’t feel anything, but frustration and sadness affect me just as much. Through painting and poetry, I can express myself and show my love for this world.” Each of his paintings is accompanied by a poem, offering a narrative that bridges his inner world with the outside one. This dual expression allows him to communicate in a way that words alone cannot. Louis’s artistic journey has not been without struggle. He wrestled with the pressure to conform to popular techniques in order to achieve success. It was only when he chose to paint with his heart and soul, embracing his own style, that his art truly flourished. His work is now characterized by thick, bold brushstrokes and vibrant, intense colors that demand attention. Through his art, Louis not only invites us to see the world through his eyes but also to recognize his place within it—passionate and unyielding. Louis has found his voice through his artwork and is dedicated to sharing his stories, hoping to inspire others and foster compassion and respect for individuals with autism.
Accolades
2009 Taiwan Presidential Education Award
2010 Luminance Art Space New Talent Award
2014 First Place in Luminance Art Space Award
2018 Taipei Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation Creative Painting Group Excellence Award
2020 Hsuan Chuang University Art and Design Department Talent Achievement Award
2021 Luminance Art Space Creative Award Gold Prize
2021 First Prize in Zenaviv Autism Awareness Month April Art Competition
Christian Gonzalez‘s exhibition at IAMA is a collective summary of the imagination. It is dedicated to his art teacher Ms. Sharon Maddison who has inspired him in more ways than one could ever hope for. From a young age, Christian’s goal has always been to maintain a creative outlook. Being able to look at regular materials such as a blank canvas or ordinary pieces of driftwood washed ashore on the pacific coast and turn them into works of art that will outlive the organic thought from which the ideas derived in the first place.
Dan McGarrah’s artwork is digital art; each created from individual photographs (no compositing) he took of trees or other plants. He then has limited edition archival prints made on canvas or paper for the smaller sizes. Exhibited artworks are from two concurrent series – UNFORMED THOUGHTS and SUBLIMINAL PROCESSING. As images are completed each is placed in the series that he feels it belongs to.
UNFORMED THOUGHTS: There is a time period, however brief, during which our conscious thoughts take shape. At points midway through this process, there is just an amorphous pre-thought – it is unformed. McGarrah feels that the unnamed artworks are reflective of thoughts that still have a wide range of potential destinations and are further along towards forming. The title is reflective of the feeling or thought that, in his view, they have begun to acquire.
SUBLIMINAL PROCESSING: As opposed to conscious thoughts in the process of forming, this art is reflective of what takes place subconsciously inside the mind. Completely uncontrolled and largely inaccessible. Art in both of these series is reflective of a broad range of feelings and senses: from gentle to harsh, from caring to antagonistic. Above all else, McGarrah strives to create art with a strong impact – emotional and/or intellectual. Artwork that very successfully “stands on its own” accompanied, or unaccompanied, by concept. He has no philosophical or social commentary, intentions. McGarrah focuses on making art that can be considered equally hundreds of years from now when the circumstances and issues of today are long forgotten. Timeless Art is his goal.
About Dan McGarrah Dan McGarrah received a B.A. from Brooks Institute of Photography (Santa Barbara), in 1981. Subsequently, McGarrah had a career as an advertising photographer, pursuing fine art photography as time allowed. Since 2018, he has been fully committed to creating artwork, currently digital art. In 2020 he completed ‘The Artist Advisory’ 4-month sessions. McGarrah has been a member of the Non-Profit San Francisco Women’s Artist’s Gallery (SFWA Gallery) since late 2016. His work has been accepted to their monthly group shows 28 times to date, and he received a ‘Juror’s Choice’ Award 4 times. His digital art and fine art photography have also been exhibited in other notable venues and online.
The ZooZoom collection is inspired by the artist‘s interest in animals and the importance of the interconnectedness of nature. These screenshots show different animals in isolation but also connected through the digital world of Wi-Fi. They demonstrate the co-existence of natural and artificial worlds, as the animals are immersed into artificial high-tech dreamscapes as they adapt to survive in this modern age.
IAMA presents a major exhibition of works by the celebrated expressionist artist and painter Ane Howard, born in Montreal, Canada, and residing in Southern California. The show displays more than ten oil and mixed media paintings arranged thematically in the Tendergold ground gallery. Howard’s impressively vibrant art will immerse visitors in exuberant, saturated colors and raw emotions.
Ane Howard describes her works as “the expression of ideas and emotions that started forming in my mind in 2000 when I first landed in San Francisco and what California has grown to mean to me. I would describe my work as expressionist art, highly emotive and intuitive. Having worked in various art forms in the past, as a painter, I truly focus on the direct relations I have from my deeper self to paint-to-canvas.” Merging her love of abstract and figurative expressionism with the artist’s decades of artistic exploration in different forms such as dance, theater, film, and writing, the works presented are Howard’s major independent work of the past two years.
Howard pushes the boundaries of paintings in terms of their poetic potential, in tandem with her investigations of the power of colors, forms, and feminine principles. Her practice in spiritual and intellectual explorations has led to successive artistic endeavors. Still, paintings seem to be the medium in which her emotive brushstrokes can be stretched to the limit of what they can do and express. Being a self-taught artist, Ane Howard demonstrates an impressive range from figurative to seascape and abstract. Ultimately, her work explores what it means for one artist to fully connect to her environment and expresses what others in the culture cannot.
Todd Dunning is a pioneering kinetic sculptor in San Francisco. His early welded mechanical steel sculptures were evocative of Jean Tinguely and David Smith. His current works – painstakingly crafted from dielectric elastomers, titanium, carbon fiber, and 3D printed internals – are more organism than machine, moving powerfully and intelligently like a living creature. Their motion is self-determined, never machine-like, and always different. Dunning has exhibited in the Bay Area and nationally and can be found in several private collections, notably the Lester Marks Collection, Houston. Recent exhibitions of his current body include a group show at the International Art Museum of America and a solo exhibition at Gray Contemporary in Houston Texas.
“My artistic goals are the opposite of many artists. I want to bring living beings into the world instead of creating works that reflect me. With the artist out of the equation, the piece is liberated to perform as it wishes. I want to give it the tools to express itself as an individual, and then leave it alone. This is why their form is reductive and formalist; their expression comes from their movement and actions; not their appearance. We are used to the artist describing a narrative with their art. I have given that task to the sculpture instead. What each one does is as big a surprise to me as to anyone else. When a piece is turned on for the very first time it’s an incredible, breathless moment. It waits for a little while and then starts to move and explore. I’ve never seen what it does before and am always amazed. Normally the viewer controls how they interact with the art but not here. They may or may not connect with you – it’s their choice. You are just along for the ride and can only control the moment you want to get out and disengage. Until then you are enthralled. There’s a moment when the piece acknowledges your presence and motions just to you.”
