Impossible Objects, an exhibit of vibrant, abstract silk screen prints, or serigraphs, by Ed Lister will be open to view starting March 13 at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery, in the historic Acheson House, 229 E. Victoria St.
The show, which runs through May 6 can be seen 1-4 p.m. Saturdays, and week days by appointment; call 805-965-6307. The artist will be present on the first and last days of the exhibit, March 6 and May 6. Self-screening, masks, and social distancing are required.
Lister, known in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara as a skilled scenic artist, created the series of “impossible objects” in the early 1970s while teaching printmaking at the Chelsea School of Art in London. After teaching art for 12 years, Lister moved to California.
Starting in the mid-70s, Lister worked for 10 years as the lead scenic artist for the Center Theatre Group at the Taper and Ahmanson Theaters in Los Angeles. Subsequently, he painted backdrops and installations as wide as 400 feet for TV, movies, and destination resorts, hotels and casinos.
More recently, Lister was commissioned to paint a 60-foot-wide mural encircling the Bisno Schall Clock Gallery of the Santa Barbara Courthouse that depicts our perception of time and various ways of recording it. Visit http://www.bisnoschallgallery.com.
Although he enjoyed working on such a large scale, Lister now paints more modest-sized images concerned with iridescent and reflective seascapes and skies.
Created 50 years ago, the exhibit’s striking, hand-pulled prints play with contemporary sensibilities and logical brains in their resemblances to imaginative digital images. Of all the printing techniques, Lister most relished executing screened images with areas of pure color put down in a clean and direct manner.
In the Impossible Objects series, Lister created improbable, mind-bending objects that cannot exist other than on a flat surface. Intrigued by their bold colors and shapes, viewers eyes are lured in, and then assumptions of reality are challenged.
The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara has been dedicated to expanding the community’s appreciation of the built environment since 1983.