Local exhibition at The Paint Chip pairs painting with photography

 In ‘Seeing The Same Thing Differently,’ Davis couple David Kalb and Nancy Gelbard combine their respective mediums

By JONAH BERMAN – arts@theaggie.org 

From April 1 to 30, Davis art supply store The Paint Chip will be showing “Seeing The Same Thing Differently,” a new exhibition that combines painting with photography. The exhibition centers on the husband-and-wife duo David Kalb and Nancy Gelbard; Kalb is the photographer and Gelbard the painter.

Kalb shared that he has been enamored with photography since childhood, beginning at age 8 when he visited his uncle’s darkroom. 

“To see what could be done with photography at an age of 8, it was kind of like magic,” Kalb said. “It got me really excited about photography.”

However, Kalb only returned to his passion after selling his business and returning to part-time work in 2012. 

“People would ask me, ‘Well, now that you're not working full-time, what are you going to do?’” Kalb said. “And among other things, I said ‘I want to get back into photography.’”

Much of Kalb’s work consists of street images and depictions of people looking at art. In order to find his subjects, he makes sure that he has a camera on him at all times. 

“What I look for is one or two people interacting,” Kalb said. “Maybe it's gestures. Maybe it's expression. Maybe it's something humorous. I love going to museums and the interrelationship, the juxtaposition between the individual looking at the art and the art itself.” 

Gelbard, on the other hand, didn’t begin painting until 2015, when she joined her family at a painting seminar in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and found herself inspired.

“After that [seminar] my sister said, ‘Well, you need to practice,’” Gelbard said. “And so, I started taking lessons here with a local teacher, Philippe Gandiol. That's kind of where I started from. And I really hadn't done a lot of art prior to that, but it was really enjoyable.” 

Currently, most of her work is still life or en plein air, and some of the exhibition’s paintings fall under this category, such as “The Russian River,” which depicts a scene in Jenner, Calif. 

“[The location is] where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean,” Gelbard said. “And, you know, we're both very attached to it. So there is a lot of meaning to it for me. I go for subjects that draw me in for one reason or another.”

The show is Kalb’s seventh at The Paint Chip and Gelbard’s first. Gelbard expressed her excitement for the debut opportunity. 

“I'm looking forward to people seeing my work,” Gelbard said. “Friends have seen some of my work, but this is a whole different thing than what they see if they happen to show up at my house or if we have a pop-up sale or something. This feels like it's one step up.” 

As implied by its title, the exhibition primarily consists of subjects that were first photographed by Kelb, and then afterwards also painted by Gelbard. Each artist also has a smaller amount of works unique to their medium. 

“David has been saying for several years now we should do a combined exhibit, and for a long time, I just wasn't ready,” Gelbard said. “I said I needed more time. But when we started talking about an exhibit, we thought of having one where we have our two pieces together. It  seemed like a wonderful concept, and it's not something that we've seen before.”

A significant portion of the artwork comes from the couple’s many experiences traveling. Locations depicted include Utrecht, Netherlands and Bratislava, Slovakia. This helps make the exhibition’s content especially explorative, according to friend of the couple, Emily Nahat.

“I think their travels abroad really stimulate their work and make it unique,” Nahat said. 

The unique concept hopes to showcase the distinct and detailed methods that different people can use to interpret identical scenarios, as Public Relations Associate for The Paint Chip Stasia Tikkanen noted.

“I think it’s really exciting to look at the photography and painting together,” Tikkanen said. “Because it shows that we can look at the same scenes and get a totally different vibe.” 

Importantly, Gelbard was physically present for all of the pictures in the exhibition that she would later paint. 

  “A lot of times, before he is ready to snap a photograph, I'm like, ‘Oh, he's probably going to take this one,’” Gelbard said. “And occasionally I'll be like, ‘David, you know, there's one over there.’ So I think I'm pretty in tune to what's going on, and I’m a street photographer of my own.”

The pair are eager to introduce their pieces to the community and hear feedback on their works, something that they described as the main highlight of exhibiting their art. Open until April 30, the show is a testament to the artists’ ultimate collaboration. 

“I'm always so thrilled when people will comment favorably on a piece of art,” Kalb said. “And they go, ‘I really love this, and here's why.’ It just feels so good to know that I've produced something, I've made something that somebody out here looks at and says, ‘I really enjoy looking at that.’”

Written By: Jonah Berman — arts@theaggie.org