SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Renowned Los Angeles painter Ed Moses opened a solo exhibition, wic wack, at Brian Gross Fine Art. While Moses is known for his innovative, non-objective abstractions, the works on view explore pattern and figuration through fabric stencils, animal motifs, and face-like forms. The exhibition continues through December 23.

These dynamic, textile-like paintings can be a shock to those who identify Moses as a purely abstract painter. Large, vivid compositions feature mysterious offset patterns and silhouettes of paired “talking heads.” In works such as Anima Kracker, exotic fauna such as zebras, tigers, and giraffes overlap and converge, like zoological quilts. Many animals sport their own patterns of stripes and spots, adding another layer of complexity to the designs. In some areas, patches of floral lace seem to cut through the canvas in dissolving—or perhaps solidifying—forms. Many elements seem to vacillate between foreground and background, creating strong optical tension and a fluctuating sense of space.

Ed Moses was born in Long Beach, California, in 1926 and received his BA and MA from the University of California, Los Angeles. His career began in the legendary Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1958; in the same year he exhibited at the Dilexi Gallery in San Francisco. In 1996, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles presented a full-scale retrospective of his career. His work is included in the public collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Menil Foundation, Houston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American