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• 1 media/2022.11.7.jpg media/2022.11.13.jpg media/2022.11.7.jpg 2023-05-02T17:52:01+00:00 Inna Ray - (Series) Winter Black Mesquite, Baker Creek 28 image_header 2023-05-17T22:51:32+00:00

  ABOUT THE ARTIST

  Inna Ray grew up in the San Gabriel Valley during a time of suburban expansion and orange-grove bulldozing. She developed a deep appreciation for the natural landscape of Southern California, and experiences like hiking in the foothills of the Angeles Forest and camping in Joshua Tree and Owens Valley strongly influenced the subject matter in her work. Ray attended Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, studying painting and photography, and graduated with a BA in Art. 

  After many years living in the San Francisco Bay Area and painting with a focus on the figure, she relocated to the Eastern Sierra in 2010. Falling in love with the landscape, she wandered around in Owens Valley and adjacent high desert lands, photographing her surroundings to use as sources for compositions she created in her travel-trailer studio. She passed away in October of 2020 after a career creating artwork with a deep connection to the earth.

  WORKS

  Winter Black Mesquite, Baker Creek
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2011
  Inna RayCrazy Old Cottonwood
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2011
  Cottonwood Grey Trio, Big Pine
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2011
  Mesquite Stump in Water
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2011
  Autumn Aspen In Tatters
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2011
  A Year Spent at Leisure in the Shelter of the Crazy Trees, Summer
  watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
  12 x 16 in.
  2013
   

  ANALYSIS OF WORKS

  
  In these works, Inna Ray depicts the landscape of the Eastern Sierra in California. These drawings are reminiscent of the seasons and natural weather patterns. The viewer can see depictions of colors of winter, the exposed underlying structures of fields and thickets, cottonwood, red birch and willow trees, and streams and canals that line these nature-scapes.
  
  Ray's use of strong graphic line-work over watercolor highlights the muted colors and atmosphere of a leafless and dormant environment full of plant life build to withstand the arid climate. At first glance, these paintings may appear bleak and colorless, but Ray's intricate attention to detail within the eclectic pencil lines adds a sense of renewed life into the plants she is depicting.
  
  Ray's depiction of the Eastern Sierra landscape is far from naturalistic, with tree branches intertwining mystically, and non-descriptive backgrounds that further highlight the subject of the works. By choosing a more expressionistic approach to these paintings, Ray gives the viewer an inside look at her perception of the subject by bringing the truth of her experience into the work. This raises the question in the viewer: how does my perception of the environment around me change based on my unique life experience?
  

  PERSONAL RESPONSE TO WORKS

  Inna Ray's expression of her personal perspective comes through very clearly in her work. The way in which she paints the natural subjects makes it almost feel intimate, like it's you and the tree only. I find this particularly impactful in her work, as it helps personalize the paintings for the viewer. Her passion for the environment and ecosystem of the Eastern Sierra in California is clear in the care Ray takes with her attention to detail in the tree bark, the winding warping of the branches, subsequently giving each tree their own unique personality. 
  
  Although she works with muted earth tones and natural colors, there is still an air of playfulness that surrounds each painting. The movement and personality of the pencil strokes brings a life to the otherwise barren landscape that she has chosen to bring a new beauty to. The framing of each subject is also quite intriguing. Not fully seeing each subject, there is a mystery and mystique that exudes from the works. These figures are almost dream-like, and are effective in providing Ray's unique perspective on the world around her.  
  
  
  Gabi Guevara