395 South, an exhibit of drawings on paper, inspired by my daily commute between Reno and Carson City, will be on display at the Investment Gallery November 3, 2008 through January 31, 2009.The Investment Gallery located on the third floor of the Fitzgerald Student Services Building, on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
For the last three years I have been commuting from Reno to Carson City. The hour and a half commute is not easy and it weighs on me physically and emotionally. Having a job that I love keeps me from dreading my early mornings but it is the landscape sweeping by my windshield that I look forward to each day.
Driving out of Reno on 395 South I leave the land of suburban sprawl and enter the high desert. I speed trough valleys and over hills. The meadows open and lengthen at each turn. Halfway through my journey Mt. Rose emerges and begins to tower as a snow capped giant and at her feet a new monument is raising, that of an un-built bridge. Pillars stand as ionic columns and images of a Greek tomb and Athenian hilltops rush to the foreground of my mind. The water of Washoe swells and subsides with every passing and the strip of road between the mountain and the lake brings with it the pleasure of speed and the straight open road. It creates one line connecting what-was to what-is-to-come. At the end of the path is Carson City, my destination for the day. The road beckons, “go faster,” “press on the gas,” and like a Siren’s call I am enchanted. The speed pushes on 70, 75, 80 mph. But with the speed comes danger even on this straight road, for the wind is traitorous, and the snow spins whiteouts, it eats up sound and blinds me with fog. Once I breach the hill and look down into the small capital city, tucked into the folds of the Sierras, I descend as a crusader having pushed my car and myself though another 30 miles. Though I repeat my journey to the count of 300 miles a week the road of 395 South between Reno and Carson City is never the same twice. It inspires my depiction of the road, movement, travel and unpredictable road ahead.
Special thanks to the Sheppard Fine Art Gallery, School of the Arts, Department of Art, and the University of Nevada, Reno.
Investment Gallery located on the third floor of the Fitzgerald Student Services Building, building number 94, connected to the Brian J. Whalen parking garage, and located just north of the Church Fine Art Building. Map
Visit my new website to view a gallery of my artwork. www.rossitza.net
