June 5, 2017
BY CLAUDIA BOYD-BARRETT
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
A surreal adventure in art awaits visitors to the Museum of Ventura County this summer.
Tarot card imagery, alchemy, supernatural beings, dreamlike visions and mythological characters are the stars of a new exhibit of 35 giant paintings by representational artist and California Lutheran University associate profes-sor Michael Pearce.
Titled “The Secret Paintings,” the exhibit pulls together an imaginative and lifelike mix of modern and ancient imagery, from pre-Christian symbols and the Holy Bible to the “Harry Potter” books and “The Da Vinci Code.”
“They’re mystery paintings,” Pearce said. “What you’re going to find is you’ll look at these paintings and know that there are secrets there that you can interpret from and learn from, but they’re not going to give you the whole answer.”
Pearce said he’s worked on the paintings for the past eight years, and it’s the first time they’ve all been displayed together. The inspiration started with a pack of tarot cards he bought when he was a teenager. The painter said he was struck by how strange the tarot images seemed, and yet they also were useful art that people could interpret.
Pearce said he hopes his paintings also prove useful to people, adding depth to their lives as they try to figure them out.
A centerpiece of the exhibit is Pearce’s most recent work, titled “Chariot.” It’s four large canvases that face one another along four walls.
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For more on “The Secret Paintings” visit the Exhibit’s page here >>