Axis Gallery is pleased to announce “Art in Motion” a special invitational exhibition with artists Omar Thor Arason, John Yoyogi Fortes, Anne Gregory and Craig Martinez during the month of June.

Axis Gallery has assembled a group of artists whom we felt exemplified our mission to provide challenging contemporary artwork. These artists live and work locally, and come from or maintain an ongoing connection with varying international destinations. These artists are an excellent representation of the diversity inherent to Sacramento.

We are honored to be hosting this exceptionally talented group of individuals from the Sacramento art community.”

Omar Thor Arason:
Omar Thor Arason is an Icelandic/American born in Michigan in 1979. He spent the first half of his life in Iceland, England, Norway and Denmark, before moving to Sacramento in 2001. Omar works primarily in the medium of painting, but explores his ideas in other mediums as well. He completed his MA in Studio Art at CSU Sacramento in 2007. Omar has had multiple solo shows in the region, including a solo show at the Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, and a duo show at the Gallery of Art and Art History at Santa Clara University. Omar is currently enrolled at Stanford University, where he is slated to complete his MFA in Art Practice in 2017.

John Yoyogi Fortes:
Born in a taxi on Yoyogi Street in Tokyo, Japan, John Yoyogi Fortes is a Northern California painter based in Sacramento. His paintings are often large scale explorations of self that lean towards the whimsical, dark and obscure.
Fortes’s paintings have been exhibited in California, Nevada, Chicago, New York, Hawaii, Venezuela, Japan and Norway, and are held in numerous private collections, as well as the Asian American Art Centre in New York, the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno and the Triton Museum of Art and Crocker Art Museum in California. His work was included in the International Arts & Artists traveling exhibition, “Infinite Mirror; Images of American Identity.”  The exhibit opened at Syracuse University in New York and traveled to museums and universities throughout the Eastern United States.
Fortes has received grants from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and a Visual Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council. In 2004 John was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. John was also nominated for the Alliance of Artists Communities, Vision from the New California Project in 2006 and 2007.

Anne Gregory:
Anne Gregory lets her materials and process guide her as she creates work that incorporates figures both human and animal. Archetypal themes are explored in her powerful paintings.   While still a very young child, she began to make art with encouragement from her parents.  She has three art degrees from CSUS and the University of Iowa .  For about 25 years she has taught at Sacramento City College while continuing to create in her studio.  She has had numerous solo exhibits at the Skinner Howard Gallery , Excentrique, and Michael Himovitz Gallery.

Craig Martinez:
Craig Martinez was born in Sacramento, California, in 1961. He received a BS in design from UC Davis in 1986. He has been a graphic designer and creative director for over 25 years and is now a full time instructor at American River College. He is represented by the Lilly Vigil Gallery, Nevada City California. His work is also shown at the Raymond Nordwall Gallery in Santa Fe New Mexico. Craig’s recent shows include; Lilly Vigil Gallery Nevada City (2014); Temporary Contemporary Gallery in Sacramento (2013); James Kaneko Gallery, American River College, Sacramento (2013), La Raza Galeria Posada, Sacramento (2012).
American history, Jungian psychology and native spirituality are his core influences. Craig’s sculptures are a hybrid of modern and tribal art. He uses repurposed wood, canvas, string, house paint and any other materials that serve his purpose.