January 21, 2022 – March 26, 2022
Currents is a gallery space dedicated to recognizing the work of emerging and evolving California artists. Featuring a different artist every two months, Currents presents a range of media, styles, and genres. Visit MMA Pacific Street to view rotating exhibits celebrating the creative diversity of our community.
Stefani Esta in Currents + FLUX
Artist Statement
“My goal is to transform and stretch the boundaries of my materials. I am interested in what lies beneath the surface. In this work, what is removed is as innately important as what remains. By gouging, grinding, and carving my way down through layers of stone, steel, and paint, by applying and reapplying chemicals, by adding and removing again and again, I am able to reveal what wants to be discovered.
“This body of work explores power consumption and energy usage. Blinded by years of short-sighted thinking and the misguided convenience of dependence on fossil fuels, we are damaging our precious Earth. Climate change and the warming Earth is here. We must change. Imagining into the Future is at the heart of my creative process. By contemplating the question of how untapped power can be mobilized, my piece Diamonds in the Sky was made manifest. These works are the shapes between, and reflections of, light on steel. Or in other words, they are joules of energy, units of energy, reflection of the soul.
“As contemporary stewards of Mother Earth, it is paramount that each of us dare to imagine. And get busy saving our beautiful blue planet.”
Image: Stefani Esta (b. 1946), Water Water, 2021, giclee on steel, 12 x 13 in, photo courtesy of the artist. © Stefani Esta.