Cracked pottery, abstract painting in Burlingame's 'Fragmented Horizons'
The new group show Fragmented Horizons has taken over the modest yet vibrant Studio Shop Gallery in Burlingame, opening in September and lingering into early October. By pairing two seemingly opposite practices—large‑scale abstraction and delicate broken ceramics—the exhibition probes the way everyday ruptures can reveal hidden layers of experience.
Painter Chris Hayman fills her canvases with thick, slab‑like swaths of pigment that recall the shifting moods of a farm landscape. Her colors collide and bleed, evoking California’s fickle seasons in a single, almost tactile vision. The work feels both grounded in place and untethered, as if the brush is mapping the invisible currents that run through the countryside.
In contrast, mixed‑media artist Rob Strati reconstructs shattered porcelain plates, tracing the cracks with ink before re‑mounting the fragments. The resulting pieces transform broken dishware into narrative scenes—a sailing vessel emerging from a cracked plate, a waterfall spilling from a fissure—making the moment of fracture a source of kinetic energy. Viewers can almost hear the snap of ceramic and sense the lingering vibration that the artist suggests.
Together, the two bodies of work create a dialogue about fragmentation and renewal, inviting the audience to contemplate how loss can become a catalyst for new forms of beauty.