SEEN/UNSEEN

EXHIBITION DATES: MARCH 22-APRIL 20, 2025

Stephen Namara and Tom Seligman are old friends who explore the physicality of paint, ink and surface textures in these deeply immersive works. They enter a world that is both seen and unseen, where prior knowledge and technique, coupled with experimentation, risk and chance, lead to visual solutions full of surprise, openness and curiosity. They draw on a leanness of technique and an innate feeling for surface textures. Their mediums speak of an open two-way process of making and unmaking, of the physical actions of painting and the emotional impacts of looking.

Tom was the founding Curator of the Africa, Oceana and Americas collection at the de Young Museum, and then headed to the Cantor Center at Stanford Museum to serve as Director for 20 years, before retiring in 2011 to become a full-time artist.  Stephen has been an anchor artist at the Shipyard since 1985.  Stephen was born in Kenya and made his way to the Bay Area in the mid-1970s via the University of Missouri and then onto the San Francisco Art Institute.  His exhibitions began at Haines Gallery in San  Francisco in 1988, and he has been a regular at the Andra Norris Gallery in Burlingame for the last decade. Throughout his career, Stephen has participated in over 80 solo exhibitions and more than 100 group shows, locally, nationally and internationally. 

Check out this fantastic interview with Tom & Stephen conducted by the newest member of our Drawing Room team, Jonah Stern.