Ann Clemente is stretching her artistic boundaries geographically, with an exhibit in Menlo Park, and psychically, with its subject matter.
Clemente will hold her upcoming exhibit, “Marks and Metal,” at Café Zoe, located at 1929 Menalto Ave. It is so named because of the symbolic content of the artworks, and also because some of them actually contain metal leaf. The café is owned and operated by Kathleen Daly, and named for Daly’s now-adolescent daughter, Zoe.
 Margaret-Ann Clemente's |
The appearance is near-abstract.
Clemente noted that “hominids have been making marks to communicate and to adorn,” as long or longer than a million years ago. The spiral, chevron, bulls’-eye circle, square and rectangle, alone or bisected with other lines, were used in those ancient times, she said, citing the Aurignacian era of 30 to 40 thousand years ago.
“I seek to honor those marks by incorporating them into a contemporary body of artwork,” she said. “Most do not come from cave walls, but from everyday objects such as ax handles, spear throwers (or) engravings on stone and jewelry.”
The theme first took shape a year ago when Clemente was looking at symbols that appeared in early goddess worship. Suddenly, she said, she realized these shapes predated goddess worship yet had their own contemporary flavor.
“I was so struck by the magnificent patterns and the modern aspect to them,” she said. “We think we’re smart, but they (early civilizations) had to be as smart as us.”
Clemente said she plans that the exhibit will be the first of many to introduce her clients to its theme, which touches on the very history of humankind, and which she had been researching in depth for at least nine months now.
This show will be the first of four, with the fourth one scheduled to be a large show at the Museo ItaloAmericano at Fort Mason in San Francisco in 2010.
They will honor the predecessors of today’s human beings, she said. “If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here.”
The café is used for monthly exhibits by area artists, distinguished by a professional hanging system for art, though the owner charges neither a fee for rental of wall space nor commission on pieces sold. The facility is used for purposes from business to community groups to space for lessons to casual gatherings.
“I found it to be very warm and welcoming,” said Clemente.
Her exhibit will run through Nov. 30. An artist’s reception is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8.
For information or directions, contact the café at (650) 322-1926.
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