George Lawson gallery is pleased to present a modest sampling of the work of four emerging Bay Area artists: Oakland-based Laura Hapka, and San Francisco’s Jary Niebur, Carrie Ann Plank, and Ron Moultrie Saunders, grouped together here under the curatorial tie-in, Secret Lives.

Each could be imagined as approaching this lyrical title from a different perspective. Laura Hapka embeds into her work public content of personal concern, a subliminal narrative, mixing torn acrylic skins with shredded currency and documents (the Paris Accord in our example), in a hybrid form of painting that incorporates collage and assemblage. Jary Niebur puts down measured marks in gold leaf and paint on stretched polyester muslin interfacing, a translucent support that allows the wooden strainers underneath to show through.

In this manner he reveals the structural underpinnings usually kept hidden in painting. Carrie Ann Plank uses sophisticated geometry to govern the compositions of her complex woodblock prints, a less-than-apparent math that culminates in her Tondo forms. Ron Moultrie Saunders plays with photographic overlays in his cyanotypes, creating symbols for the inner life.