The California State University, Stanislaus Department of Art is hosting an exhibit by Mark L. Emerson through the end of this week. “Twenty Years Painting” opened on Aug. 22 in the University Art Gallery and will run until Friday. Emerson’s paintings are mostly polymer on canvas and range in size from 12 by 12 inches to 7 feet high. The paintings are colorful collections of shapes and patterns with varying textures.

“In gathering works for this exhibition I was concerned with how these paintings fit together as a whole. Do they relate to one another? Do they make sense as a body of work? To my surprise and relief there is a thread that weaves through these paintings,” Emerson said in his artist statement.

Emerson has been painting for nearly 40 years, but the scope of the exhibit is over the last 20 years. Several of Emerson’s paintings were published in an exhibit catalog by the University Art Gallery. When viewed chronologically, the patterns in Emerson’s paintings become more and more intricate. Emerson said that he was surprised by just how much work he had done over the last 20 years.

“I think the amount of paintings indicates how much ‘practice’ an artist must do to achieve clarity and facility,” Emerson wrote.

Emerson’s works have been exhibited at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Berkeley Art Museum, and numerous shows across California. He currently teaches at The Art Institute of California, Sacramento. He dedicated the exhibit and catalog to his 9-year-old daughter Ellis Marie.

The exhibit was funded partly through Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities and partly through private donations. It will be hanging in the University Art Gallery, inside of the CSU Stanislaus Theater building, until Friday. Admission to the gallery is free and hours of operation are noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays.

To contact Andrea Goodwin, e-mail agoodwin@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2003.