A new show has arrived at the Kaneko Art Gallery at American River College. “The Uncertainty Principle,” by surreal artist Omar Thor Arason, premiered on Sept. 19 and will run through Oct. 14. 

According to Patricia Wood, Kaneko Gallery director, Arason is an alumni of ARC. He went on to attend and graduate from Stanford University. He is now teaching at Sacramento State University and Stanford University part-time.

“He went here as a student many, many moons ago,” Wood said. “He and his wife are from Iceland. He is a great guy.”

Arason’s 2022 piece “Escape Under the Watchful Eye of Cod,” is one of the pieces currently on display at the gallery. It depicts a dark and melancholy scene. Soft strokes of oil color create human forms throughout the canvas, framed by natural mushrooms on one end and an atomic blast mushroom on the other.

According to Stephanie Kadle, long-term Kaneko Gallery intern, his work is comparable to that of popular street artist Bansky due to the dystopian and surreal nature of their pieces. 

This is not the only art show lined up for this semester, Wood said.

The Kaneko Gallery will also host an exhibit featuring Penny Hanscom’s work, another ARC alumni and local fiber artist. Hanscom will also be sharing her unique process in a book.

“She’s won all kinds of awards for her fiber arts,” Wood said. “She has pieces that look like paintings, but they’re all made with fabric. She says she paints with fabric.”

The last show of this semester features Gabriel Garbow, a watercolor artist. Garbow, a Minnesota native who found a home in Sacramento, creates paintings that portray scenes of calm and peaceful waters, somewhere between familiar and isolating.

“It is my aim to evoke these moments that will ring familiar with the viewer,” Garbow said in a public statement. “Complicated states of being, that connect us far beyond the simple depiction of beauty and leisure.”

Wood and Kadle are both enthusiastic about the upcoming event and encourage students from all departments to visit. 

“This is for all students, not just art students,” Wood said.

The exhibit will be open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and admission is free.