Wind at the Ear, 2003
Wind at the Ear, 2003
90x60 inches



Scrimmage II, 2005
Scrimmage II, 2005
60x60 inches



seven mornings, 2005
seven mornings, 2005
60x60 inches



 amy trachtenberg: ricochet

San Francisco artist Amy Trachtenberg opens Ricochet, an exhibition of new paintings organized by Brian Gross Fine Art, in the lobby gallery at One Post Street, San Francisco, on Monday, January 9, 2006. Known for her abstractions, Trachtenberg continues to experiment with pouring and manipulating paint on canvas on a large scale.

In her four new works, Trachtenberg explores the poetry inherent in natural phenomena such as wind, water and air. Her process involves pouring and staining the canvas with pigmented mixtures, then lifting and swaying the painting to flood and bleed the colors into one another. After the initial pours, different pigments are dropped, tracked and imprinted as distances and proximities. While the layering of yellows and greens in Wind at the Ear seems soothing, Scrimmage II bursts with menacing pinks and reds. Trachtenberg guides the paint into a stunning tonal territory that foregrounds the tension between the natural world and human intervention and memory.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1955, Trachtenberg studied at California State University in Sonoma, where she received her BA. Trachtenberg continued her studies at the L'Ecole National Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris receiving her MFA in Painting and Drawing. Her work has been exhibited in numerous alternative spaces throughout San Francisco and she is an artist in residence at VALA (Visual Arts Literary Arts, San Francisco East Bay schools). She has also received grants and awards from the California Arts Council and the San Francisco Arts Commission and is currently working on a public project with the San Jose Arts Commission. Trachtenberg lives and works in San Francisco, CA.

One Post Street is located at the intersection of Post, Market, and Montgomery Streets next to the Montgomery BART Station. Lobby hours: Monday-Friday 8:30am-6pm.