A Bay Area artist, Gage Opdenbrouw was born and raised in San Jose, California, who lives, works, and teaches in San Francisco. He is a painter whose work evinces many interests and influences. Regardless of the style or subject, he aims to distill his images to a point where there is a powerful emotional resonance. He paints primarily in oil, and the vast majority of his works involve the figure or the landscape in one way or another. Opdenbrouw’s paintings comprise several distinct, yet interrelated bodies of work. In addition to his studio work, he also teaches painting & drawing both in a private capacity, and at the Sharon Art Studio, where he teaches classes for adults, and NCMACC, where he shares his love of art with children, both in San Francisco. At the ripe young age of 32 his paintings have been the subject of ten solo exhbitions, and over forty group, juried, and 2 person shows in museums and galleries around the country. Artist Statement Painting is a means of communicating & deepening one's personal perceptions & reactions to the world, the small things that strike us as poignant, even if only for a fleeting instant. Painting is a means for closer observation of the world, and of one's self. Representational painting is a language for expressing or recording what's visible, but I feel it is of most interest when focused on something not entirely visible. In other words, I try to paint the exterior world in such a way as to evoke the mysterious richness & vastness of the interior world each of us carries within. My hope is that some of that feeling is passed on, or generated anew in the viewer.