PALM DESERT, CA.- As the 2016 season revs up in Palm Desert, Heather James Fine Art hosts excellent lineup of contemporary art by Max Pellegrini and Kaoru Mansour.

MAX PELLEGRINI:
For the better part of 50 years, the Turin, Italy based artist Max Pellegrini has used photography and painting — and a visual vocabulary of trippy landscapes, beautiful people, and meaningful symbols — to compose his stories. Pellegrini’s work embodies the culture of the 20th century, drawing on the ideas of the Masters and giving them new context and relevance. His psychedelic works often reference Italian music, literature, fashion, and iconography — from the Renaissance to Postmodernism. Max Pellegrini’s paintings are a flashback in classic and pop culture — a trip in time with poignant narratives embedded in symbolic references.

KAORU MANSOUR: SONAEMONO/OFFERINGS
Los Angeles artist Kaoru Mansour creates paintings out of botanical collage elements on wooden panels and canvas. Delicately colored organic forms are covered with twenty to thirty different layers of encaustic, which gives her work a rich and highly textured appearance. Mansour’s paintings explore the relationship between man and nature, through traditional sonaemono, Japanese offerings of sweets, vegetables, or fruits to shrines and temples for their ancestors. Sonaemono are never meant for human consumption. However, when small birds nibble at the treats, it is a sign of being at one with nature. The birds represent nature, but they also have human-like qualities. A native of Japan, Kaoru Mansour grew up in a small mountainous village. She has vivid, early childhood memories of playing with, studying and even eating the tremendous varieties of seasonal plants in the lush forests of Japan. As she began her formal training as an artist at Otis Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles, the impact of her previous natural surroundings emerged. In her latest exhibition, Sonaemono/Offerings, Kaoru Mansour offers the viewer small treats to nibble on and contemplate, and celebrate her love of nature.

Heather James Fine Art is located at 45188 Portola Avenue in Palm Desert and features a wide array of art ranging from Impressionist and Modern art to Post-War and Contemporary, American, Latin American, Old Master, Photography and Design. For more information about the gallery and upcoming exhibitions, please visit our website www.heatherjames.com or call the gallery at 760-346-8926.