Concentric Circles: Tracing the Radiance of Bay Area Figuration

Pamela Walsh Gallery is proud to present Concentric Circles: Tracing the Radiance of Bay Area Figuration, a major survey of works by the founding artists of the Bay Area Figurative Movement and those whose practices radiated outward from its transformative core. This exhibition revisits the fertile artistic period of 1950–1965, when a group of San Francisco Bay Area painters, led by David Park, Elmer Bischoff, and Richard Diebenkorn, made the radical choice to return to figuration at the height of Abstract Expressionism.

Concentric Circles includes work by Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, Nathan Oliveira, Joan Brown, Theophilus Brown, Paul Wonner, James Weeks, Manuel Neri, Frank Lobdell, Bruce McGaw, Henrietta Berk, Wayne Thiebaud, Raimonds Staprans, and Kim Frohsin. These artists infused their work with bold brushwork, rich color, and a deeply personal approach to subject matter—portraying the human form, domestic interiors, and everyday life with a reverence that felt both radical and grounded.

A highlight of the exhibition is a newly commissioned essay by Steven A. Nash—art historian, curator, and former Director of the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation—who provides scholarly insight into the evolution and enduring legacy of Bay Area Figuration. As Nash writes, “What started as a rebellion became a tradition—one that absorbed a remarkable diversity of voices, forming a dynamic and ever-expanding circle of influence.”

The gallery will also host a Panel Talk on May 10 at 4 PM featuring Matt Gonzales, Ted Barrow, and Emilio Villalba, who will explore the movement’s continued relevance and personal connections to its legacy.

Concentric Circles celebrates the intimacy and immediacy of an artistic movement that reconnected modern painting to lived experience—reminding us that figuration, at its best, reveals not just what we see, but how we live.