Jerald Melberg Gallery presents two solo exhibitions featuring oil paintings by Jesse Redwin Bardin and wood constructions by Ramon Urbán.

Born in Elloree, South Carolina, Jesse Redwin Bardin, commonly known as J. Bardin, is celebrated for his evocative abstract paintings that seem to glow from within. Bardin studied at the University of South Carolina, earning a bachelor’s degree in Education with a Fine Art major in the days when the small art department offered no studio major. He then moved to New York and attended the Art Students League with fellow classmates, Will Barnet and Jasper Johns. In 1954 Bardin returned to his home state and began teaching at the Columbia Museum of Art’s Richland Art School. Serving as the school’s supervisor, Bardin taught there for 23 years.

Ramon Urbán was born in 1958 in western Spain where he still lives and creates his elegant wood constructions. These carefully crafted shield-like forms are made by bending wood that has been soaked for a lengthy period of time. The sculptures are often given interest by linear extensions that intersect the forms in various ways. The artist then paints, stains and draws on the surface, rendering a subtle patina that appears both contemporary and ancient at the same time.