a.Muse Gallery welcomes the visual storyteller David Molesky for a solo exhibit featuring intimately-scaled paintings of figures and animals in natural landscapes. The body of work, part of an ongoing series started in 2006, is curated by Greg Flood a frequent contributor to the Examiner's contemporary arts section. The exhibition title, A Long Moment reflects on the 35 year old's unique technique, which involves repeated layerings and reworkings over an extended period of time. This process is often absent in the work of many of his contemporaries, who are known for more fast paced urban work.

Mark Van Proyen writes in one essay, “Whereas most American painters of Molesky's generation have chosen to position their work in relation to the various pop media clichés that are loosely arrayed beneath the shopworn banner of Pop Surrealism, Molesky has instead aligned his practice with the mythopoetic wellsprings that have sustained painterly embodiment as a primary mode of cultural self-understanding for over 500 years.”

According to the artist, “For me the slowness of painting provides an important counter point to the acceleration of modern culture.”

Having studied under Odd Nerdrum, the most famous of the contemporary painters working in the grand European tradition, Molesky has created a body of paintings that, according to the curator, “explore the psychological situations of humans in a highly technological age through the use of ambiguous, psychological narratives.”

The artist explains, “I compose scenarios that are sourced from life experience. However, my intention is to bring to light moments that contain a sense of mythology.”

In his curatorial statement, Flood describes the artist's choice of subjects as “the complete rejection of the human made cityscape and the advanced technologies that make it function. In its place, Molesky has located all of his figures in natural landscapes of his own making, which create a heavy psychological effect on both the figure and the viewer.” He concludes that the artist turns the focus to the “magic and mystery that Mother Nature creates every day.”

Even in the words of Mission District's greatest of art stars, Barry McGee states in his recent article in the New York Times,“whatever is made today on canvas goes up against all of art history. It's the most radical thing.” In this way Molesky is a radical, and this exhibit a bit of a reaction to the “techinfying” of the Mission District. a.Muse gallery is located in the heart of what gallery owner Lori Shantzis has been referred to as the “former Dot.com” less than a year ago. A San Francisco native for the last 4.5 years, Molesky is moving to NYC in July, and Shantzis wanted to give him a proper send off. The move marks a return for the artist to the East, after nearly 18 years on the west coast, except for his 2.5 years studying painting in Europe.

In addition, to this move and migration of 200 plus of Molesky's paintings, this has been a busy year for the artist. The Long Beach Art Museum acquired one of his paintings and he has become a contributing writer for Juxtapoz Magazine. His work is included in several museum exhibitions this year including one at the Long Beach Art Museum and at the Rene Museala in Southern Italy.