Los Angeles artist ERIC ZAMMITT exhibits luminous acrylic wall-mounted and freestanding sculptures at Scott Richards Contemporary Art in San Francisco during the month of October. A cocktail reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, October 6, 5:30 – 7:30 pm. The exhibition continues through October 29.

The ethereal becomes tangible in Eric Zammitt’s elegant geometric mosaics. Smooth as glass, the seamless surfaces are a mesmerizing array of pulsating colors, which shift and shimmer as the light and vantage point changes. The optical abstractions are made of thousands of solid bits of richly colored acrylic plastic, which are formed into cohesive panels through an intensive process of construction, division, and reconstruction. The rhythmic color combinations appear to vibrate with energy, recalling the sequential patterns found in oscillating sound and light waves, carpet weaving and biological structures. The outer edges can be rectangular or evocatively shaped; this exhibition will include circular and wheel-shaped pieces for the first time, with kaleidoscope color and pattern.

“I work from a place of curiosity about something that is mysterious and unknown to me,” says the artist. “I set up a process in which complex color and pattern can arise, or ‘happen’.” In contrast to his intuitive approach to the arrangement of the elements, Zammitt’s method is meticulously crafted and labor-intensive. It involves stacking and adhering layers of different colored sheets of plastic, which are then sliced into thin strips and fused back together in rhythmically contrasting tones. Wet sanding and polishing the surfaces to a high finish completes the process. The end result of this rigorous activity is a meditative and even spiritual sensation in the finished works.

In the words of critic Jon Carver (Art Ltd., Mar-Apr 2013), “Zammitt is good… The flawless, high-polish surfaces turn the rectangles into perfect, incredibly intricate, wafer-thin mirages of light and color through seamlessly subtle, yet potent, chromatic interactions.”

Eric Zammitt was born in Los Angeles in 1960. He studied art at Pasadena City College and California State University in Los Angeles, going on to travel through Asia to expand his artistic influences. Since then, Zammitt’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States, as well as in Korea and Japan, and is included in important public and private collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He was recently commissioned to create a four-story permanent window installation as part of the Adams & Central Mixed Use Development in Los Angeles. Zammitt’s work has also been featured in publications such as Art Ltd., the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and Artscene.