“Pulp Fiction” opens at Elisa Contemporary Art on February 25. Our new exhibit focuses on fictional worlds created on paper. Our exhibit travels inside the labs of inventors and mad scientists to the underwater worlds of athletes…from architectural and industrial buildings to abstracted landscapes. These fictional places and people all invite the viewer to glimpse in and then create stories all their own. As stated by featured artist, Melinda Hackett, “If there is a story to tell, it is up to the viewer to tell it.”

The people and characters of Krzysztof Pastuszka’s artwork are inspired by those who come up with an outlandish idea…and then make it a reality. According to Krzysztof, “ I am influenced by the romantic idea of an inventor – stumbling upon an idea, researching it, documenting it in detail, then twisting it – noting any peculiarities (real or imagined), and incorporating a bit of humor or whimsy. I’m gravitated toward the eccentric, the reclusive person that thinks up things and makes them happen…thinking inside the head of the possibilities not seen by others and trying to make them realities.”

Carol Bennett’s figures were originally conceived watching Swimmers train at the LA Athletic Club – the space once used by Olympic coaches in the 1920’s. According to Carol, “The floor beneath the pool, with its ethereal skylight, was an underwater observation room.... I would feel like a voyeur, watching the swimmer's private time and drawing in their beauty and strength.”

The buildings and structures in Yasemin Kackar Demirel’s artwork are constructed and deconstructed cities inspired by her travels throughout Turkey, the US and her imagination. For Yasemin, “Drawings also enables me to reexamine my thought processes and channel my thoughts into creating compositions that expand into a given space and can at times turn into ephemeral works. Thus, drawings facilitate an open-ended exploration of spaces and places.”

In the artwork of Ferdinanda Florence, she uses industrial sites in her home city of Vallejo (CA) to explore issues of place on a more personal level. The exhibit includes a new series featuring the Vallejo Fire Department building -- one that's built to be repeatedly set on fire, for practice.

The watercolor worlds of Melinda Hackett are “poetic inventions of her imagination.” According to Melinda, “My paintings create worlds full of images that float, hover, creep, spin, hang, roll or sleep in corners... By virtue of their inability to be fully identified, they remain in the realm of the poetic, a sum of images to form a whole, and the way they relate to each other is meant to be read experientially and not categorically.”