Cal State Channel Islands’ (CSUCI) Department of Art and Art History will open the academic year with Double Landing, a solo exhibit featuring the work of artist Rafael Perea de la Cabada.

Opening Monday, Sept. 14, at the campus’ Napa Hall Art Gallery, the exhibit brings together dozens of original works that showcase Perea’s distinctive creative approach and the range of media he uses.

Perea will attend a free public reception, 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, and will discuss his work during an artist talk 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 in the gallery, at the entrance to Napa Hall on Ventura Street near the corner of Santa Barbara Avenue.

“The exhibition presents a diverse collection shaped by experimentation, keen observation and the interplay of construction and continual revision,” organizers said.

“Although the breadth of work on display might initially suggest a retrospective, the exhibition instead reveals the varied creative terrain Perea simultaneously inhabits,” they said. “His inquisitive and playfully introspective nature emerges through expressive paintings, charcoal drawings, assemblages and ceramics.”

As its title suggests, Double Landing features works that never quite settle into a fixed form. Rather, they are animated through layers of gesture and movement.

“At times, Rafael’s processes and his materials defy easy delineation,” said Professor of Art Luke Matjas, director of the Napa Hall Art Gallery.

“Drawings act like paintings, paintings become richly layered and sculptural, and sculptures act like drawings in three-dimensional space. At its core, Rafael’s work is very performative,” Matjas said.
 
Born in Mexico City, Perea earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking in Mexico City and an MFA from UC Santa Barbara.
 
His work has been shown at galleries and museums throughout Southern California, including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Forum, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, and the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

His work has also been on display in New York, Washington, Tennessee, Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Croatia, Spain and Germany, and was featured in the recent Tijuana International Triennial at the Centro Cultural Tijuana.

Double Landing will remain on view through Friday, Oct. 23. The gallery is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission to the exhibit, reception and artist talk is free.
 
Napa Hall Art Gallery is at the entrance to Napa Hall at the CSUCI campus on Ventura Street near the corner of Santa Barbara Avenue.

Visitor parking is available at the A4 Lot. Individuals needing disability-related accommodation or have questions about accessibility, should visit Event Access as soon as possible before the event.